Our February choice is Small Island by Andrea Levy, which was the first book to win both the Whitbread Novel of the Year award and the Orange Prize.

During the Second World War thousands of men and women from the Caribbean served in our armed forces. Afterwards some of those ex-servicemen decided to return to Britain, and in 1948, along with other migrants, they sailed on the Empire Windrush. Andrea Levy’s father was one of those on board. Adjusting to their new lives was to prove very difficult: conditions were decidedly unfavourable, as there was an acute housing shortage; however, many of the immigrants also encountered hostility and racial prejudice.

Levy’s scintillating novel fully deserves the acclaim it has received, because she has succeeded in creating four engaging lead characters who genuinely spark a range of emotions in the reader. There are many touching, poignant moments, but there are also frequent hilarious episodes.

If you would like to join in the forum discussion, please read the novel now and post your comments in March. Here are some points to think about as you read.

1. This novel is narrated by four characters. Did you like the narrative style?
2. Did you find that preferences developed as you moved from narrator to narrator?
3. Do the characters develop in the course of the story?
4. Does Queenie make the ‘right’ decision at the end of the novel?
5. Is it significant that the novel begins with Queenie and ends with Hortense?
6. Why is the book called ‘Small Island’?