Small Island charts the arrival from Jamaica of Hortense and Gilbert, two contrasting people with a misty eyed view of England and what it promises. The book also charts the effects of West Indian immigration and integration upon Bernard and Queenie - two people who mirror the relationship that Hortense and Gilbert have.I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a revelation. The evocation of World War II was depicted very well, in a different way to normal and expressed the real life side of it; actually living in London during the The Blitz. I found that all the characters to be complicated and quirky and eventually warmed to all of them by the end of the book.
The handling of the racial tensions was handled very well that made me angry in one sense at the way that West Indians were treated at the time and also sympathetic of Levy's tone: writing Queenie and Bernard's thoughts with enough naive condescension and contempt to accurately represent the 1940s view of West Indians and black people in general.
The novel is a real page turner and I never felt I would not be continually surprised. My only criticism of the book would be that I found that I could not really picture Jamaica or the Windrush - but these aside I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
