For the miniseries based on this novel, see Small Island (television drama)

Small Island (television drama)

Small Island is a two-part 2009 BBC One television drama adapted from the 2004 novel of the same title by Andrea Levy. The programme stars Naomie Harris and Ruth Wilson as joint respective female protagonists Hortense Roberts and Queenie Bligh, two women who struggle to fulfil their personal...

.

Small Island is a 2004 prize-winning novel by British author Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy is a British author, born in London to Jamaican parents who sailed to England on the Empire Windrush in 1948.-Identity and writings:...

. It was adapted for television

Small Island (television drama)

Small Island is a two-part 2009 BBC One television drama adapted from the 2004 novel of the same title by Andrea Levy. The programme stars Naomie Harris and Ruth Wilson as joint respective female protagonists Hortense Roberts and Queenie Bligh, two women who struggle to fulfil their personal...

 in two episodes by the BBC in 2009.

The novel is based on four main characters: Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert and Bernard and the story is told from each of their points of view. Its main plot is set in 1948 and focuses on the diaspora of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n immigrants, who, escaping economic hardship on their own "small island," move to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the Mother Country, for which the men have fought during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Their reception is not quite the warm embrace that they have hoped for. Some chapters skip to an earlier time as the characters describe the time when they were growing up.

Character summaries

• Queenie Bligh: The level-headed character in the book. She is fair, open-minded and has a very big and kind heart. After her husband, Bernard, left for the war she opened her house for servicemen, which is when she met Gilbert. She is symbolic of England: Queenie comes with reference to the royal family (she was also christened Victoria
  Victoria (name)
  -Origin, meaning and forms:Victoria is the Latin word for 'victory' and is used as the feminine form corresponding to the name Victor. Hence, Victoria Salvador means 'victory to the savior'...
  
   - after Queen Victoria) and Bligh comes from Blighty
  Blighty
  Blighty is a British English slang term for Britain, deriving from the Hindustani word vilāyatī , from Persian vilayet and ultimately from Arabic wilayah, originally meaning something like "province"...
  
  , a slightly dated word for England.
• Hortense: A very well-mannered woman who looks down her nose at other people. She comes from Jamaica and has moved to England with hopes of becoming a teacher, but she has a certain naivety about what to expect when she arrives. Having been brought up in British colonial Jamaica, she has been taught very many exaggerated facts about the niceties of English living. It becomes quite ironic as she turns out to be more polite and well spoken than anyone she meets, despite being a little snobbish.
• Gilbert Joseph: A lovable and funny character who is always trying his hardest to please everyone. Very clumsy but honest, he is one of the more likable characters. He is quite laid back, but extremely intimidated by Hortense, his wife.
• Bernard Bligh: A very well-to-do character who sticks his nose up at everything and everyone, with the exception of his wife Queenie for whom he shows a great deal of care. He is portrayed as racist and the complete opposite of Queenie both in attitudes and personality.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pdyg0

Prizes

The novel has won a number of prizes including:

• the Orange Prize for Fiction
  Orange Prize for Fiction
  The Orange Prize for Fiction is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes, annually awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English, and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year...
  
   in 2004
• the Whitbread Book of the Year in 2004
• the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2005.
• Won Smallest Island Award in 2003.

External links

• Andrea Levy discusses Small Island on the BBC's World Book Club
  World Book Club
  World Book Club is a radio programme on the BBC World Service. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her books, often the most well-known one, with the public...