The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Levy, Andrea. Small Island. Picador, 2004.

Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island is written from the first-person perspective. Chapters alternate between the viewpoints of Hortense Roberts, Gilbert Joseph, Queenie Bligh, and Bernard Bligh. Although the story unfolds in a nonlinear manner, Levy utilizes the past tense throughout the novel.

In 1948, Hortense Roberts arrives in London from Jamaica. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, has rented a room from Queenie Bligh, whose own husband, Bernard, has not returned from the Second World War. Hortense is upset about the squalor of the room. In a flashback, Hortense grows up in the care of her father’s cousins. As a teenager, she works at a school run by a white couple, the Ryders. Hortense gradually falls in love with Michael Roberts, the son of her father’s cousins. During a hurricane, Michael’s affair with Mrs. Ryder comes to light. Michael then leaves Jamaica to join the Royal Air Force. Hortense attends a teacher-training college in Kingston. She befriends Celia Langley, who later secures her a job at a school. Hortense receives word that Michael’s plane has been shot down and that he is likely dead. Celia begins a romance with Gilbert, a former RAF airman. Hortense, however, lends Gilbert money to move to England on the condition that he marry Hortense and bring her to London. They marry and, after six months, Hortense prepares to join her husband in England.

In 1948, Queenie discusses her neighbors’ anger at the Black lodgers in Queenie’s home. On her first night, Hortense continues to bemoan her disappointing living conditions. In a flashback, Gilbert joins the RAF. He is surprised by the racism at a training camp in the United States. In England, he finds that British citizens are entirely ignorant of Jamaica. While in the countryside, a man begins to follow Gilbert. Gilbert confronts him; the man is unable to speak but gives Gilbert a note with an address. Gilbert brings the man to this address, where he meets Queenie Bligh. The mute man is Arthur Bligh, the father of Queenie’s husband. Gilbert befriends Queenie. They attend a movie with Arthur, but a fight breaks out between white and Black soldiers after Gilbert refuses to sit at the back of the theater. During the ensuing violence, a stray bullet kills Arthur. After the war, Gilbert returns to Jamaica. He is unable to secure stable work. He meets Hortense and excitedly prepares to return to England. In London, he finds that landlords will not rent to a Black man. He calls on Queenie, who agrees to rent him a room.

In 1948, Gilbert expresses the annoyance he now feels towards Queenie. Queenie offers to take Hortense shopping. In a flashback, Queenie grows up on a farm with her family. Her aunt eventually takes her to London, where she takes etiquette lessons. Bernard, a bank clerk, begins to court her. Queenie’s aunt dies and Queenie agrees to marry Bernard. Their marriage is boring and unhappy. Queenie takes care of Bernard’s father, Arthur, who still suffers from the trauma of World War I. As London falls under siege during the Second World War, they dig a bunker in the backyard. Hortense begins to work at a relief center for victims of the violence. Bernard joins the RAF, leaving Queenie alone with Arthur. Queenie allows three RAF airmen to stay in their home; one of these men is Michael Roberts. Michael and Queenie sleep together, and Queenie is shocked at her new feelings of passion. Queenie is then injured during a bombing; Arthur breaks his silence to express his care for her.

In 1948, Gilbert unhappily works as a postal driver. He argues with Hortense. Queenie takes Hortense shopping; upon their return, Queenie finds Bernard waiting outside her home. In a flashback, Gilbert works as an RAF engineer in India. He befriends a fellow soldier named Maxi. To the frustration of the men, they remain in India even after the surrender of the Japanese. Some of the soldiers organize a strike. They are later deployed to Calcutta to stabilize a bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims. A soldier refuses a direct order; Maxi and other men later plan another strike in order to free this soldier from detainment. Bernard, who disagrees with the plan, leaves the meeting to assume his guard post. A fire breaks out in the building where Maxi and the other men had met; Maxi, along with seven other soldiers, dies. The commanding officer attempts to force Bernard to reveal the details of the planned strike; when he refuses, Bernard is detained in a military prison for abandoning his guard post and misplacing his weapon. After his release, Bernard is distraught. He has sex with a prostitute and, as he returns to England, becomes convinced he has contracted syphilis.

In 1948, Bernard recalls the two years since his arrival back in England. He worked in Brighton and prepared for his syphilis to induce death or psychosis. A doctor eventually told him, however, that he never had syphilis. Queenie is angry that her husband has been in England so long without returning home. Bernard, meanwhile, is furious that Queenie has rented rooms to Black lodgers. He tells Gilbert that he must leave immediately. Hortense visits a school in an attempt to secure a teaching position, yet she is denied on the basis of her race. Gilbert and Hortense begin to enjoy one another’s company. During a confrontation between Gilbert and Bernard, Queenie nearly collapses. Hortense brings Queenie to bed, where Queenie unwraps a bandage from her belly to reveal that she is pregnant. Queenie then gives birth to a Black child. Hortense and Bernard both guess, initially, that Gilbert is the father. Hortense storms away as Bernard attacks Gilbert. Queenie describes Michael’s return to her home; although his plane was shot down, Michael survived and planned on traveling to Canada. He visited Queenie and they again slept together. Gilbert finds another place to live, and he and Hortense excitedly prepare for their move. Bernard begins to express affection for Queenie’s newborn child. Queenie, however, begs Gilbert and Hortense to adopt her baby. She fears that she, as a white woman, will not be able to raise a Black child. At the end of the novel, Gilbert and Hortense leave Queenie’s home, along with her child, Michael.