Home | Books By Year | Books from 2010


The Long Song

Buy The Long Song now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the book. And once you've experienced the book, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'The Long Song' is a historical novel by Andrea Levy published in 2010 that was the recipient of the Walter Scott Prize. It was Levy's fifth and final novel, following the 2004 publication of 'Small Island'. In December 2018, a three-part television adaptation of the same name was broadcast on BBC One; 'The Long Song' was aired on PBS in February 2021.

Plot summary



'The Long Song' is written as a memoir by an elderly Jamaican woman living in early 19th-century Jamaica during the final years of slavery and the transition to freedom that took place thereafter. It tells the tale of a young slave girl, July, who lives at Amity a sugarcane plantation. She lived through the 1831 Baptist War, and then the beginning of freedom. Her mother, Kitty; the slaves working the plantation land; and the owner of the plantation, the white woman Caroline Mortimer, are other characters in the novel.

Themes



The themes of the book incorporate: how it feels being an immigrant Jamaican, racism, black versus white, landlord versus tenant, slavery and its abolition, slave uprisings, rape, the 1831 Baptist War in Jamaica, the clergy, and love triangles.

Reception



Kate Kellaway in 'The Observer', Tayari Jones in the 'Washington Post', Fernanda Eberstadt in 'The New York Times', and Amanda Craig in 'The Telegraph' were among those who gave the novel positive reviews.

Awards



'The Long Song' was a finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize. It was the recipient of the 2011 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-13823909 "Andrea Levy wins Walter Scott Prize for The Long Song"], BBC News, 18 June 2011.Flood, Alison (20 June 2011), [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/20/andrea-levy-wins-walter-scott-prize "Andrea Levy wins Walter Scott prize"], 'The Guardian'. with the judging panel saying that "Andrea Levy brings to this story such personal understanding and imaginative depth that her characters leap from the page, with all the resilience, humour and complexity of real people. There are no clichs or stereotypes here. The Long Song is quite simply a celebration of the triumphant human spirit in times of great adversity."[http://www.walterscottprize.co.uk/past-winners-2010-to-2015/ "Past Winners: 2010 to 20152], The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. 'The New York Times Book Review' named it a Notable Book of the Year.

Television adaptation



A three-part television adaptation of 'The Long Song', starring Tamara Lawrance, Jack Lowden, Hayley Atwell, and Lenny Henry was filmed in the Dominican Republic, and aired on BBC One in December 2018.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/bbc-one-the-long-song-casting "BBC One announces cast for adaptation of Andrea Levys 'The Long Song'"]. BBC. 13 July 2018.White, Peter. [https://deadline.com/2018/07/hayley-atwell-tamara-lawrance-to-star-in-david-heymans-bbc-drama-the-long-song-1202425800/ "Hayley Atwell & Tamara Lawrance To Star In David Heymans BBC Drama 'The Long Song'"]. 'Deadline Hollywood'. 12 July 2018.Munn, Patrick. [https://www.tvwise.co.uk/2018/07/tamara-lawrance-hayley-atwell-set-as-leads-in-bbc-ones-andrea-levy-adaptation-the-long-song/ "Tamara Lawrance & Hayley Atwell Set As Leads In BBC Ones Andrea Levy Adaptation 'The Long Song'"]. 'TVWise'. 13 July 2018.[https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Tamara-Lawrance-Haley-Atwell-More-to-Star-in-BBC-Ones-THE-LONG-SONG-20180713 "Tamara Lawrance, Haley Atwell, & More to Star in BBC One's 'The Long Song'"]. 'Broadway World'. 13 July 2018.Dowell, Ben. [https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-07-13/the-long-song-bbc-drama-tv-series-cast-hayley-atwell-lenny-henry-tamara-lawrance/ "Hayley Atwell, Lenny Henry and Tamara Lawrance cast in new BBC period drama 'The Long Song'"]. 'Radio Times'. 13 July 2018. A TV tie-in edition of the novel was released by Headline Publishing in 2018.Cowdrey, Katherine (27 September 2018), [https://www.thebookseller.com/news/bbc-one-drama-andrea-levys-long-song-854596 "BBC adaptation of Levy novel sparks Headline editions"], 'The Bookseller'.

References



Further reading



* Ursin, Reanna (October 2010). [http://smallaxe.net/sxsalon/reviews/telling-her-story "'Telling Her Story'"], 'sx salon'. Retrieved 12 April 2017.

Category:Novels set in Jamaica

Category:2010 novels

Category:Novels about slavery

Category:Historical novels

Category:Walter Scott Prize-winning works

Category:Headline Publishing Group books

Buy The Long Song now from Amazon

<-- Return to books from 2010



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1073949947.