Small Island
- Small Island
- Andrea Levy
- Headline Book Publishing, London, 2004
Small Island is the story of Jamaican immigrants in post WWII England; immigrants who fought for England in the war and had inflated expectations about their reception in the mother country. Rather than a warm embrace, they dealt with near constant racism, both overt and covert.
Small Island won the 2004 Orange Prize, the 2004 Whitbread Prize and the 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
The BBC made a two part TV version of Small Island in 2009.
Headline is a small press and the first print numbers for this book would have been low. Prices today for a signed true first printing range from $100 to $400. You can save a lot if you don’t mind minor condition issues.
This copy is a second printing. As you can see, 2 is the lowest number on the number line on the copyright page and the front cover has an Orange Prize Winner bug along the right side. As such, even in its fine/fine condition, the value would be slightly less than $100. Signed paperback first editions start at about $35.
Levy has a new book out right now (The Long Song) which is on the Booker Prize shortlist. If it should win the Booker, the value of all her books could rise significantly.
Small Island is semi-autobiographical. Levy’s parents emigrated to England in 1948. Levy herself was born in England in 1956.
