myscatteredshelf 's review for:

Small Island by Andrea Levy

4.0

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“It was inconceivable that we Jamaicans, we West Indians, we members of the British empire would not fly to the Mother Country’s defense when there was a threat. But, tell me, if Jamaica was in trouble, is there any major, any general, and sergeant who’s would have been able to find that dear island?” Andrea Levy is the daughter of Jamacan immigrants in London who loved the black fiction of America but couldn’t find fiction that expressed the black experience in England so she set out to create it. This was my first Andrea Levy novel but won’t be my last. Small Island is about the relationship between England and its colonies during and post-WWII. HIghly recommend for fans of historical fiction to understand the tension between England defending themselves against the Germans while still being colonizers themselves.