Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy was born in London, England in 1956 to Jamaican parents. Her first three novels explored - from different perspectives - the problems faced by black British-born children of Jamaican emigrants.

Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Every Light in the House Burnin' (1994), is the story of a Jamaican family living in London in the 1960s. Her second, Never Far From Nowhere (1996), is set during the 1970s and tells the story of two very different sisters living on a London council estate. In her third, Fruit of the Lemon (1999), Faith Jackson, a young black Londoner, visits Jamaica after suffering a nervous breakdown and discovers a previously unknown personal history.

Small Island, her fourth novel,(2004), is set in 1948 and through the stories of both English and Jamaican characters it explores a point in England's past when the country began to change.

Andrea Levy has been a judge for the Saga Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction. As well as novels she has also written short stories which have been read on radio and anthologised. She has been recipient of an Arts Council Writers Award and was the winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. She lives and works in London.

Fellow novelist ANNE BERRY on ANDREA LEVY

Andrea Levy’s writing springs off the page at me. It is so full of energy, colour and verve. Her novel Small Island, rightly showered with awards, about the post war arrival of Caribbean immigrants to Britain and their struggle to integrate into a closed society, is a delight from start to finish.

If you like Andrea Levy you might also like to read books by Monica Ali, Andre Dubus III and Zadie Smith

The Long Song Andrea Levy One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011. February 2011 Book of the Month. Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2011. Featured on The TV Book Club on... Format: Paperback - Released: 06/01/2011 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

The Long Song Andrea Levy One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011. Shortlisted for the Galaxy UK Author of the Year Award 2011. February 2011 Book of the Month. Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for... Format: Paperback - Released: 06/01/2011 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

The Long Song Andrea Levy Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010. Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 1 April 2010. Longlisted for the prestigious 2010 Orange Prize. February 2010 Book of the Month. With the recent television... Format: Hardback - Released: 04/02/2010 Lovereading Price: £14.24 - Saving £4.75 (25%)

Small Island Andrea Levy Shortlisted for the Best of the Orange Best 2010 by the Orange Prize Youth Panel. A novel about racism, prejudice and injustice in the post war years in London as Jamaicans, escaping economic hardship, move to the Mother Country. Told from... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/09/2009 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

Small Island Andrea Levy A 2012 World Book Night selection. A novel about racism, prejudice and injustice in the post war years in London as Jamaicans, escaping economic hardship, move to the Mother Country. Told from four characters’ points of view, it deserves all the... Format: Paperback - Released: 13/09/2004 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)