Fruit of the Lemon

Faith Jackson fixes herself up with a great job in TV and the perfect flatshare. But neither is that perfect - and nor are her relations with her overbearing, though always loving family. Furious and perplexed when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history. Through the weave of her aunt's storytelling a cast of characters unfolds stretching back to Cuba and Panama, Harlem and Scotland, a story that passes through London and sweeps through continents.

“''Levy has a gift for creating character through mimickry, bu tnever succumbs to thepitgalls of sentiment masquerading as authenticity. This is a comic but sharp novel that steers its readers confidently through its heroine's revelatory journey' TimesFunny and moving... Levy is an ironic comedian whose subtle, intelligent novel steers well clear of whimsy - Guardian Unflinchingly unsentimental, her writing is leavened with humour and warmth...entertaining and revelatory - TLS 'Written in an accessible, friendly style' Independent on SundayReinforces Levy's reputation as an astute observer of modern British life - Financial Times Always refreshingly undogmatic...[readers] will recognise the truthfulness of the world which Andrea Levy describes - Sunday Telegraph Levy has a gift for voices...a thoughtful comment on racism and the importance of knowing where you are from - The Sunday Times Bright and inventive - Independent”

''Levy has a gift for creating character through mimickry, bu tnever succumbs to thepitgalls of sentiment masquerading as authenticity. This is a comic but sharp novel that steers its readers confidently through its heroine's revelatory journey' Times

Funny and moving... Levy is an ironic comedian whose subtle, intelligent novel steers well clear of whimsy - Guardian

Unflinchingly unsentimental, her writing is leavened with humour and warmth...entertaining and revelatory - TLS

'Written in an accessible, friendly style' Independent on Sunday

Reinforces Levy's reputation as an astute observer of modern British life - Financial Times

Always refreshingly undogmatic...[readers] will recognise the truthfulness of the world which Andrea Levy describes - Sunday Telegraph

Levy has a gift for voices...a thoughtful comment on racism and the importance of knowing where you are from - The Sunday Times

Bright and inventive - Independent

Andrea Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents who came to Britain in 1948. She has lived all her life in London. After attending writing workshops when she was in her mid-thirties, Levy began to write the novels that she, as a young woman, had always wanted to read entertaining novels that reflect the experiences of black Britons, which look closely and perceptively at Britain and its changing population and at the intimacies that bind British history with that of the Caribbean.

She has written four previous novels, has been a judge for the Orange Prize for Fiction, Orange Futures and the Saga Prize, and has been a recipient of an Arts Council Award. Her second novel, NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE, was long listed for the Orange Prize, and her most recent novel, SMALL ISLAND, won the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction: Best of the Best, the Whitbread Novel Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. It has now been adapted into a major BBC TV drama.

Faith Jackson fixes herself up with a great job in TV and the perfect flatshare. But neither is that perfect - and nor are her relations with her overbearing, though always loving family. Furious and perplexed when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history. Through the weave of her aunt's storytelling a cast of characters unfolds stretching back to Cuba and Panama, Harlem and Scotland, a story that passes through London and sweeps through continents.

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