ANDREA LEVY was born in England to Jamaican parents. Her fourth novel, Small Island, won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and the Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best. She lives in London, England. |
THE LONG SONG
Told in the irresistibly willful and intimate voice of Miss July, with some editorial assistance from her son, Thomas, The Long Song is at once defiant, funny, and shocking. The child of a field slave on the Amity sugar plantation in Jamaica, July lives with her mother until Mrs. Caroline Mortimer, a recently transplanted English widow, decides to move her into the great house and rename her "Marguerite."
Resourceful and mischievous, July soon becomes indispensable to her mistress. Together they live through the bloody Baptist War and the violent and chaotic end of slavery. Taught to read and write so she can help her mistress run the business, July remains bound to the plantation despite her "freedom." It is the arrival of a young English overseer, Robert Goodwin, that will dramatically change life in the great house for both July and her mistress. Prompted and provoked by her son's persistent questioning, July's heartache and resilience are gradually revealed in this extraordinarily powerful story of slavery, revolution, freedom, and love.
"Andrea Levy's insightful and inspired fifth novel, The Long Song, reminds us that she is one of the best historical novelists of her generation ... Levy's sparkling voice is all her own."
—The Washington Post
"A novel that won't let the reader go."
—The Globe and Mail
"A brilliant historical novel."
—Reader's Digest
The Writing of The Long Song
by Andrea Levy
At a conference in London, several years ago, the topic for discussion was the legacy of slavery. A young woman stood up to ask a heartfelt question of the panel: How could she be proud of her Jamaican roots, she wanted to know, when her ancestors had ben slaves? I cannot recall the panel’s response to the woman’s question but, as I sat silently in the audience, I do remember my own. Of Jamaican heritage myself, I wondered why anyone would feel any ambivalence or shame at having a slave ancestry? Had she never felt the sentiments once expressed to me by a Jamaican acquaintance of mine? ‘If our ancestors survived the slave ships they were strong. If they survived the plantations they were clever.’ It is a rich and proud heritage. It was at that moment that I felt something stirring in me. Could a novelist persuade this young woman to have pride in her slave ancestors through telling her a story? That was where the idea for The Long Song started ... Read More
