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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Some wartime violence and racial violence in 1940s Britain
Language
Some
Adult language reflecting the era and the characters' registers
Sexual Content
Some
Adult romantic and sexual content across the wartime and postwar storylines
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The psychological weight of arriving in a 'mother country' that does not want you creates the novel's sustained emotional register
What this book is about
Andrea Levy's Orange Prize-winning novel weaves between wartime and 1948, following four characters: Hortense and Gilbert, Jamaican immigrants in London, and Queenie and Bernard, the English couple whose house they move into. Levy explores the Windrush generation's experience with warmth and honesty — the racism they encountered, the humanity on both sides, and the complicated inheritance of Empire. Adult content including wartime sexual encounters and the realities of race in 1948 Britain.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Racism and colonial attitudes throughout
Reader Verification
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