The white people are presented, by and large, as ludicrous, and none more ludicrous than July's mistress, Caroline Mortimer with her big-big batty and her talent for self-deception.
July's story is set in Jamaica just before and just after the emancipation of slaves and during the Baptist War. You might not see this as much of a setting for a comedy of manners, but this is what Andrea Levy gives us in The Long Song. Deprived of both parent and name - Caroline renames her Marguerite - July learns how to avoid her mistress's needle stick punishments and finds a place among the other house servants. Spotted by Caroline, the plantation owner's widowed sister on the side of the road, July is taken away from her mother to become a lady's maid. And Kitty doesn't keep hold of her daughter for very long. Nine months later, we find him striking the midwife who can't keep Kitty quiet during labour. July's tale, The Long Song, opens with her mother Kitty's rape by Amity plantation's overseer, Tam Dewar.
Summary: Funny, captivating snapshot of Jamaica at the time of the Baptist Wars and as seen through the eyes of a mischievous, resilient, original woman you won't forget in a hurry.
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