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
You do not know me yet but I am the narrator of this work. My son Thomas, who is printing this book, tells me it is customary at this place in a novel to give the reader a little taste of the story that is held within its pages. As your storyteller, I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of freedom that followed.
July is a slave girl who lives upon a sugar plantation called Amity and it is her life that is the subject of this tale. She was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and she was also present when slavery was declared no more. My son says I must convey how the story also tells of July's mama, Kitty; of the negroes that worked the plantation land; of Caroline Mortimer, the white woman who owned the plantation; and many more persons besides—far too many for me to list here. But what befalls them all is carefully chronicled upon these pages for you to peruse.
Perhaps, my son suggests, I might write that it is a thrilling journey through that time in the company of people who lived it. All this he wishes me to pen so the reader can decide if this is a novel they might care to consider. Cha, I tell my son, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just read it for themselves.
“The Long Song is above all the female version of emancipation, told in vivid, vigorous language in which comedy, contempt and a fierce poverty are at work. ...told with irresistible cunning; it is captivating, mischievous and optimistic, generating new stories and plot lines throughout the tale.”
—The Telegraph
“There is a fierce independence in Levy’s work and admirers who have been wondering what she will do next will not be disappointed…this is a beautifully written and cleverly constructed novel that projects convincing personal relationships on to the feral backdrop of Jamaican plantations.”
—The Times
“As well as being beautifully written, The Long Song is a thoroughly researched historical novel that is both powerful and heartbreaking. Andrea Levy may want to make some space on her mantelpiece. I’m guessing she could well need it later on this year.”
—The Sunday Express
“Its poignant and shocking ending should make it required reading in every school in the country. Like all of Andrea’s works, The Long Song, in its power and beauty, is quite simply the truth.”
—Waterstone’s Books Quarterly (cover story)
“A novel such as Small Island is a hard act to follow, but in her new book Levy has moved into top gear… She dares to write about her subject in an entertaining way without ever trivializing it and The Long Song reads with the sort of ebullient effortlessness that can only be won by hard work.”
—The Observer
“Beautifully written, intricately plotted, humorous and earthy… Those who enjoyed Small Island will love The Long Song, not just for the insights on the ‘wretched island’, but as a marvel of luminous storytelling.”
—The Financial Times
"July’s story…gallops along, full of humour and incident, linguistically fleet of foot and by turns illuminating and heartbreaking. As a story of suffering, indomitability and perseverance, it is thoroughly captivating."
—The Guardian
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
