THE AUTHOR OF SMALL ISLAND TELLS THE STORY OF THE LAST TURBULENT YEARS OF SLAVERY AND THE EARLY YEARS OF FREEDOM IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY JAMAICA Small Island introduced Andrea Levy to America and was acclaimed as “a triumph” ( San Francisco Chronicle ). It won both the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and has sold over a million copies worldwide. With The Long Song , Levy once again reinvents the historical novel. Told in the irresistibly willful and intimate voice of Miss July, with some editorial assistance from her son, Thomas, The Long Song is at once defiant, funny, and shocking. The child of a field slave on the Amity sugar plantation, July lives with her mother until Mrs. Caroline Mortimer, a recently transplanted English widow, decides to move her into the great house and rename her “Marguerite.” Resourceful and mischievous, July soon becomes indispensable to her mistress. Together they live through the bloody Baptist war, followed by the violent and chaotic end of slavery. Taught to read and write so that she can help her mistress run the business, July remains bound to the plantation despite her “freedom.” It is the arrival of a young English overseer, Robert Goodwin, that will dramatically change life in the great house for both July and her mistress. Prompted and provoked by her son’s persistent questioning, July’s resilience and heartbreak are gradually revealed in this extraordinarily powerful story of slavery, revolution, freedom, and love. Before opening a book on slavery, many readers must brace themselves, knowing from past experience the emotional toll it is likely to take. The Long Song , however, strikes an altogether different tone from that of Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987) or Marlon James's The Book of Night Women (HHHH May/June 2009). Peppered with humor and her trademark wit, Levy's fifth novel paints "a vivid and persuasive portrait of Jamaican slave society" ( New York Times ) that is highly readable and rarely depressing. Only the Miami Herald critic disagreed, describing some characters as "caricatures" and the author's light tone as ill-conceived. Still, most agreed with the Boston Globe 's assessment that "[t]hrough all her trials July's joie de vivre shines." In the inexplicable absence of a definitive and revelatory history of Jamaica’s nearly 300 years of slavery, Levy gamely steps into the void with the lively and engaging novel of Miss July, a slave born on the ironically named Amity sugar plantation. The mulatto child of a black slave and her white overseer, July’s destiny was that of a canefield laborer until Caroline Mortimer took over the plantation upon the death of her brother. Renamed the more genteel “Marguerite,“ July is promoted to the manor house, which brings her into contact with the new overseer, Robert Goodwin. More liberal than his lusty predecessors, Robert not only fails to abuse July, he also falls in love with her. Yet when the institution of slavery is abolished by royal decree, Goodwin’s attempts to gainfully employ his former slaves end tragically for all concerned. Charming, alarming, Levy’s vibrant historical novel shimmers with all the artifice and chicanery slave owners felt compelled to exert. --Carol Haggas Praise for The Long Song “This is a terrific book: beautifully written and imagined, and full of surprises . . . A brilliant historical novel.” —A. N. Wilson, Reader’s Digest “In The Long Song , Andrea Levy explores her Jamaican heritage more completely than ever before. This sensational novel­—her first since the Orange Prize–­winning Small Island , recently adapted for the BBC—tells the life story of July, a slave girl living on a sugar plantation in 1830s Jamaica just as emancipation is juddering into action. Levy’s handling of slavery is characteristically authentic, resonant and imaginative. She never sermonises. She doesn’t need to—the events and characters speak loud and clear for themselves.” —Holly Kyte, The Telegraph “ The Long Song is above all the female version of emancipation, told in vivid, vigorous language in which comedy, contempt and a fierce poetry are at work . . . For all that this is supposed to be the autobiography of a woman with ‘little ink,’ edited by her anxious, seemly son, The Long Song is told with irresistible cunning; it is captivating, mischievous and optimistic, generating new stories and plot lines throughout the tale. July is one of Levy’s stubborn women who inspire both irritation and admiration. She is a splendid creation, whose wit, pride and resilience sweeten a tale that would otherwise make her white readers hang their heads in shame.” —Amanda Craig, The Daily Telegraph “As well as providing a history of post-abolition Jamaica, The Long Song is beautifully written, intricately plotted, humorous and earthy. In patois-inflected prose, Levy conjures the greed and licentiousness of the island’s sugar impresarios and heiresses as they indulge