Longlisted for The Orange Prize for Fiction

In the warm, rhythmic cadences of the Caribbean, July recounts her youth born into slavery on a sugar plantation known as Amity. At age six, her impish charm spared her the harsher aspects suffered by her mother in the cane fields, when the callow Caroline Mortimer wrenched her from her mother’s arms to become her servant in the main house.

From July’s vantage point, we witness the vanities of the entitled, the petty sabotage by the repressed and humiliated, the boiling anger of the slave uprisings, and the deprivation and dislocation of the aftermath.

July, who for a time captured the heart of Robert Goodwin, the white overseer of Amity, only to be cruelly repulsed and have their child stolen from her, emerges from her struggles to live in freedom and comfort, and love. It is a thrilling, heartbreaking tale with a satisfying ending.

Praise for The Long Song:

"The Long Song is above all the female version of emancipation, told in vivid, vigorous language in which comedy, contempt and a fierce poverty are at work. ...told with irresistible cunning; it is captivating, mischievous and optimistic, generating new stories and plot lines throughout the tale."
—The Telegraph

"There is a fierce independence in Levy's work and admirers who have been wondering what she will do next will not be disappointed...this is a beautifully written and cleverly constructed novel that projects convincing personal relationships on to the feral backdrop of Jamaican plantations."
—The Times

"As well as being beautifully written, The Long Song is a thoroughly researched historical novel that is both powerful and heartbreaking. Andrea Levy may want to make some space on her mantelpiece. I'm guessing she could well need it later on this year."
—The Sunday Express

"Its poignant and shocking ending should make it required reading in every school in the country. Like all of Andrea's works, The Long Song, in its power and beauty, is quite simply the truth."
—Waterstone's Books Quarterly (cover story)

"A novel such as Small Island is a hard act to follow, but in her new book Levy has moved into top gear... She dares to write about her subject in an entertaining way without ever trivializing it and The Long Song reads with the sort of ebullient effortlessness that can only be won by hard work."
—The Observer

"Beautifully written, intricately plotted, humorous and earthy... Those who enjoyed Small Island will love The Long Song, not just for the insights on the 'wretched island', but as a marvel of luminous storytelling."
—The Financial Times

"July's story...gallops along, full of humour and incident, linguistically fleet of foot and by turns illuminating and heartbreaking. As a story of suffering, indomitability and perseverance, it is thoroughly captivating."
—The Guardian