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A courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers.
Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her
life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert
Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his
status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie,
raised as a farmer's daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with
innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who
returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.
Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender
emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering
compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers---in
short, an encapsulation of that most American of experiences: the immigrant's
life.
Women's Prize
2004
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The longest journey of any person is the journey inward
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