The Long Song by Andrea Levy. 396 pages
This novel tells the story of July, who is born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation in the early 1800s.
It's a vivid and heartrending depiction of the life of the island at that time and the injustice done to the slaves by their owners. Not at all a comfortable book to read, but that's often a good thing.
Levy says in an article in the back of the book that she wanted to show how strong a person had to be in order to survive being a slave. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't see that when I was reading the book, but I suspect that's a failing in me rather than in the writing.
I also found it harder to connect with the characters in this book than in the other Levy I've read, Small Island, perhaps because their mindsets were much further removed from mine.
Not an enjoyable book, but a powerful one, I think.
