The Long Song: Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize

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It was the publication of the prize-winning Small Island in 2004 that propelled Andrea Levy to international acclaim. The novel told the story of Jamaican families like her own integrating into post-war Britain and drew directly from the experiences of her parents and their passage to the Mother Country. The success of 'Small Island' held deep personal significance for Andrea. This vivid and disturbing version of The Long Song is further compensation for a flow of novels cruelly shortened. Jones, Tayari. "Book review: 'The Long Song,' by Andrea Levy". Washington Post . Retrieved 12 March 2015.

White, Peter. "Hayley Atwell & Tamara Lawrance To Star In David Heyman’s BBC Drama The Long Song". Deadline Hollywood. 12 July 2018. The Long Song has an unusual format for a historical novel. Part memoir, part oral history, it is led by July, the narrator, who is detailing an account of her life on a Jamaican plantation, which is then filtered through her son, who is writing her account and experiences on her behalf. It is often non-linear and, at points, Levy deviates with interludes and interruptions, where the two discuss the presentation of the story. What did you think of this format - how did it serve your reading experience and your understanding of July’s experience? Why do you think Levy chose to write in this manner? With Gary Younge, Baroness Lola Young, Louise Doughty, Helen Edmundson, Sarah Williams, Margaret Busby, Sharmaine Lovegrove, Catherine Hall and Andrea's husband Bill Mayblin. The book covers significant periods in history, including the 1831-1832 Baptist Wars and the 1838 abolition of slavery. Discuss the portrayal of resistance and rebellion in the novel across these periods and the impact on the characters and their quest for freedom. Writing came to Levy's rescue. Her first three books - 'Every Light In The House Burnin'' (1994), 'Never Far from Nowhere' (1996) and 'Fruit of the Lemon' (1999) - explored questions of immigrant identity and were semi-autobiographical. Through her writing, she explored the historical connection between Britain and the Caribbean as a profoundly British concern, and her literary project was to make people of both small islands aware of their intertwined history.

Many of the characters in The Long Song subvert expectations. July is blunt, outspoken, and short-tempered. Others that work on the plantation often feign stupidity to the plantation owners - they place bed sheets onto dining tables while those who are accomplished musicians ruin dinner parties and embarrass their hosts. These characters are not simply reduced to their suffering. Discuss the point Levy is trying to make by developing such well-rounded and complex characters. Violence and brutality run through the novel and Levy opens with a serious sexual assault, from which the novel’s narrator, July, is born. Discuss how gender plays a role in the novel and its wider historical events. Do you think women were more vulnerable than men?

Writing 'The Long Song', her novel set on a 19th century Caribbean slave plantation, was, she says, 'the most terrifying thing to have to go into'. With the recent Windrush scandal and wider debates about the legacy of the slave trade in Britain, Levy’s work could not be more relevant. 'The Long Song' was published in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. But it was during the writing of this book that Andrea was diagnosed with the cancer that would, she knew, eventually kill her. The Guardian: ‘I started to realise what fiction could be. And I thought, wow! You can take on the world’ The Man Booker prize 2010 shortlist". The Guardian. 7 September 2010. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 7 July 2020. I wanted there to be joy in this book; fun, as well. I had to tread a fine line. It was never going to be ‘Carry On Up the Plantation’, but also I didn’t want it to be just so harrowing that nobody could read it. I wanted a book that everyone could read and everyone could enjoy.With the story told through the prism of July’s memory, we are led to question how much of the story is accurate. At times she recalls events, despite not personally bearing witness to them. July is presenting a collective memory of events that happened to a group of people - she fills in gaps, embellishing tales while drawing on the experiences of others. Did you feel, or question, while reading, if there was any unreliable narration from July? Ultimately, does it matter?