Most Popular Books by Andrea Levy

Told in four distinct voices, the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2004 is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, encapsulating the most American of experiences: the immigrant''s life.

The “brilliant” story of July, a slave girl living on a sugar plantation in 1830s Jamaica just as emancipation is coming into action (Reader’s Digest). 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.” Together they live through the bloody Baptist War and the violent and chaotic end of slavery. An extraordinarily powerful story, “The Long Song leaves its reader with a newly burnished appreciation for life, love, and the pursuit of both” (The Boston Globe). Finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize The New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

From the award-winning author of Small Island, “a bittersweet exploration of an outsider’s experience of British culture” (Bookmarks). Faith Jackson knows little about her parents’ lives before they moved to England. Happy to be starting her first job in the costume department at BBC television, and to be sharing a house with friends, Faith is full of hope and expectation. But when her parents announce that they are moving “home” to Jamaica, Faith’s fragile sense of her identity is threatened. Angry and perplexed as to why her parents would move to a country they so rarely mention, Faith becomes increasingly aware of the covert and public racism of her daily life, at home and at work. At her parents’ suggestion, in the hope it will help her to understand where she comes from, Faith goes to Jamaica for the first time. There she meets her Aunt Coral, whose storytelling provides Faith with ancestors, whose lives reach from Cuba and Panama to Harlem and Scotland. Branch by branch, story by story, Faith scales the family tree, and discovers her own vibrant heritage, which is far richer and wilder than she could have imagined. “Levy has chosen her title shrewdly: like the lemon, her loaded satire is bright and alluring, but its bite is sharp.” —Booklist “Levy’s raw sense of realism and depth of feeling infuses every line.” —Elle “Bright and inventive . . . Levy’s command of voices, whether English or Jamaican, is fine, fresh and funny.” —The Observer

Andrea Levy, author of the Man Booker shortlisted novel THE LONG SONG and the prize-winning, million-copy bestseller SMALL ISLAND, draws together a remarkable collection of short stories from across her writing career, which began twenty years ago with the publication of her first novel, the semi-autobiographical EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN''. ''None of my books is just about race,'' Levy has said.''They''re about people and history.'' Her novels have triumphantly given voice to the people and stories that might have slipped through the cracks in history. From Jamaican slave society in the nineteenth century, through post-war immigration into Britain, to the children of migrants growing up in ''60s London, her books are acclaimed for skilful storytelling and vivid characters. And her unique voice, unflinching but filled with humour, compassion and wisdom, has made her one of the most significant and exciting contemporary authors. This collection opens with an essay about how writing has helped Andrea Levy to explore and understand her heritage. She explains the context of each piece within the chronology of her career and finishes with a new story, written to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. As with her novels, these stories are at once moving and honest, deft and humane, filled with insight, anger at injustice and her trademark lightness of touch.

Written to mark the centenary of the outbreak of WWI, this short story by multi-award-winning, million copy bestselling author Andrea Levy tells the tale of two Jamaican service men in that conflict.

20/20 Edition - Headline 20th Anniversary Edition The classic debut from the multi-award-winning author of SMALL ISLAND ‘Better opportunity’ – that’s why Angela’s dad sailed to England from America in 1948 on the Empire Windrush. Six months later her mum joined him in his one room in Earl’s Court… …Twenty years later, Mr Jacob has become seriously ill and starts to move unsteadily through the care of the National Health Service. As Angela, his youngest child, tries to help her mother through this ordeal, she finds herself reliving her childhood years, spent on a council estate in Highbury.

Diese Sammlung von Short Stories enthält die Texte: Andrea Levy: Loose Change Shereen Pandit: She Shall Not Be Moved Saeed Taji Farouky: The Rain Missed My Face and Fell Straight to My Shoes Jhumpa Lahiri: The Third and Final Continent Qaisra Shahraz: The Escape

Una novela sobre la esclavitud en Jamaica«El libro que tienes entre las manos nació de un intenso anhelo. Mi madre tenía una historia que contar. Esa historia le pesaba tanto en el pecho que una fuerza superior a su propia voluntad la empujó a transmitírmela a mí, su hijo. Su intención era que, una vez conocedor del relato, llegado el momento oportuno, hiciera yo partícipes de él a mis hijas. Y así sucesivamente. La fábula no se perdería jamás y, de tanto repetirse, alcanzaría una grandeza solo comparable a la de las leyendas que se cuentan señalando con el dedo los retratos o bustos albergados en cualquier mansión de esta isla de Jamaica».

Als bevrijding geen vrijheid brengt ''Meesterlijke roman over de relatie tussen twee sterke vrouwen die niet mét en niet zonder elkaar kunnen: de zwarte slavin July en de blanke plantagehoudster Caroline. July is een slaaf die op de suikerplantage Amity leeft. Caroline Mortimer is een blanke vrouw die de plantage bezit. Het lange lied is hun verhaal, maar ook een verhaal over de negers die op het land van de plantage werken, en over de afschaffing van de slavernij, die wel bevrijding, maar geen vrijheid bracht. Dit is een indringende roman die geen lezer onberoerd zal laten. Levys unieke stijl trekt de lezer direct in het leven op de broeierige plantages van Jamaica. Prachtig geschreven, humor een juweel. FINANCIAL TIMES Tegelijkertijd een verhaal over de strijd van één vrouw om te overleven in verschrikkelijke omstandigheden, en een lofzang op de talloze slaven die meer deden dan alleen maar lijden en sterven, maar ook in staat waren om alles uit hun bestaan te halen wat ze maar konden. Buitengewoon goed en vlot geschreven. THE INDEPENDENT Andrea Levy is geboren in Engeland als dochter van Jamaicaanse immigranten. Haar internationale doorbraak kwam met de roman Small Island, die gelauwerd werd met een keur aan prijzen, met als hoogtepunt de Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best. Otto Biersma vertaalde eerder onder andere Marisha Pessl, Calamiteitenleer voor gevorderden, Mitch Cullin en Claire Messud. www.mouria.nl ''

u003cpu003eEste no es un libro sobre política. No del todo, vaya. Lo escribo después de haber dedicado doce años a la política, obviamente. Pero se trata de un relato vital de la última década, en la que lo personal y lo profesional eran un todo. Lo público es solo el hilo conductor para exponer cuál era mi realidad diaria mientras el dolor, principal síntoma de la fibromialgia que padezco, formaba parte de mi vida cada vez con mayor intensidad. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eDe modo que esta historia habla sobre el dolor, aunque tampoco es un almanaque de salud o una guía médica. Es un relato para entender cómo lo urgente dio paso a lo prioritario, es decir, cómo la obsesión por querer alcanzar el éxito y el reconocimiento profesional se impuso y evitó que me detuviera ante las llamadas de atención de mi propio cuerpo. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eEstas páginas van de cómo convivir con las debilidades de uno mismo o, al menos, cómo lo logré yo. Lo escribo ahora porque he aprendido que pretender ser perfecta cuando no eres capaz de gestionar las emociones te hace más vulnerable. Y que intentar hacerlo a base de ansiolíticos es una trampa muy peligrosa. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003cbu003eAhora sé muy bien que todo dolor da miedo y que el propio miedo es un gran dolor.u003c/bu003eu003c/pu003e

For the first time, a collection of Andrea Levy''s later works in ebook form, including the Orange Prize-winner SMALL ISLAND and Booker shortlisted THE LONG SONG. SMALL ISLAND is a novel that defined a generation; the story of two couples in post-war London, and their attempts to understand each other. It won the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize ''Best of the Best'' as well as the Commonwealth Writers'' Prize and the Whitbread. Possibly the definitive fictional account of the experiences of the Empire Windrush generation, it was selected by the BBC as one of its ''100 Novels That Shaped Our World''. THE LONG SONG, Andrea''s final novel, was a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It is a hauntingly beautiful, heartbreaking and unputdownable novel of the last days of slavery in Jamaica, following the story of July, a slave on the sugar plantation of Amity. The collection is completed by Andrea''s last full work, SIX STORIES & AN ESSAY. A collection of stories from across her life, she explains the context of each piece within the chronology of her career and finishes with a new story, written to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. As with her novels, these stories are at once moving and honest, deft and humane, filled with insight, anger at injustice and her trademark lightness of touch.

En el invierno de 1948, Hortense, una joven maestra jamaicana, desembarca en Southampton para reunirse con Gilbert, su marido, también de Jamaica y también negro Gilbert ha combatido en la RAF y quiere estudiar Derecho Ambos soñaban con Londres, el centro del Imperio, y estaban desesperados por abandonar su «pequeña isla» Alquilan una habitación en casa de Queenie, quien, como Hortense, ha utilizado el casamiento para huir de su provincia, y cuyo marido, Bernard, combatiente en la India y desmovilizado hace dos años, ha desaparecido misteriosamente, por lo que Queenie sobrevive alquilando habitaciones en su casa de Earls Court Todos ellos descubrirán que la guerra ha terminado pero que las batallas de la vida cotidiana pueden ser muy duras Gilbert tendrá que conformarse con un trabajo en Correos Hortense aprenderá que aquí es una oscura emigrante que no puede trabajar como maestra Y Bernard, cuando por fin vuelve a casa, se encuentra con que tendrá que vivir en una pensión de negros

Vom Kampf einer Frau um Freiheit - mit Leichtigkeit und Leidenschaft erzählt Jamaika, Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Sie war einst Haussklavin auf der Zuckerplantage Amity und hat bewegte Zeiten hinter sich. Nun, viele Jahre nachdem sich ihre Brüder und Schwestern die Freiheit mit Blut erkauften, drängt es die inzwischen betagte Miss July ihrem Sohn, einem angesehenen Verleger, die Geschichte ihres Lebens zu offenbaren - und ihm zu erklären, warum sie gezwungen war, ihn als Säugling auf den Stufen einer Pfarrei auszusetzen. So beginnt sie mit grosser Lust am Fabulieren von jener Zeit zu erzählen, als sie die rechte Hand der Missus auf der Plantage war. Bis der junge Goodwin seine Arbeit als Aufseher aufnahm und für July ein Leben unter anderen Vorzeichen anfing. Die unvergessliche Geschichte einer Emanzipation und zugleich ein erschütternder Bericht über die letzten Tage der Sklaverei, dargeboten von einer Ich-Erzählerin, die uns aufschreien lässt gegen die Unmenschlichkeit, die uns aber immer auch mit ihrem Lachen versöhnt. Denn sie führt uns vor Augen, welche Kräfte der Glaube an Veränderung wecken kann, welche Kraft die Freiheit birgt.

A collection that brings together Andrea Levy''s three early novels: EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN'', NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE and FRUIT OF THE LEMON. While Andrea Levy is best known for two of her later works, SMALL ISLAND and THE LONG SONG, these novels have a power all of their own. Her emotional debut, EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE BURNIN'', was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and tells the story of Angela as she casts her mind back to a childhood spent on a council estate in Highbury, as she helps her mother care for an ailing father. NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE is Andrea''s passionate and perceptive sophomore novel, full of the pain and humour of growing up. It is the story of two sisters, Olive and Vivien, born in London to Jamaican parents and brought up on a council estate. They go to the same grammar school, but while Vivien''s life becomes a chaotic mix of friendships, youth clubs, skinhead violence, A-levels, discos and college, Olive, three years older and a skin shade darker, has a very different tale to tell . . . The collection finishes on FRUIT OF THE LEMON, a masterful novel which centres on young, ambitious Faith Jackson. Furious and perplexed when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history. Through the weave of her aunt''s storytelling a cast of characters unfolds, in a novel that sweeps through continents.

This is the second novel from the author of Every Light in the House Burnin''. It is a story about 2 black sisters growing up in London in the mid 70s. They are working-class girls at a posh school. One will go upmarket, the other down.

Gilbert and Hortense, black Jamaicans, find London racially charged in 1948.

Roman de société. Roman historique.