Fruit of the Lemon

Andrea Levy

Is Faith Jackson not being given any meaningful work in her job in a TV company's costume department because she's new? Or is it because she's black? And if she doesn't know whether it's she that's becoming paranoid or her career that's being shunted down a siding by a quietly racist management hasn't she got a problem either way? After all, in Andrea Levy's latest novel, it's the first time Faith has had to ask herself this kind of question. Faith's CV so far: loving and supportive Jamaican-born parents, good schooling, university, good degree, nice friends, cool flatshare, good job in TV. Some black friends, some white friends, up till now it hasn't seemed to matter either way. Only it's all starting to go wrong. And most unsettling of all, her parents are planning to retire, leave London and move back to Jamaica. A country Faith has never even visited.

In an effort to make sense of her life and to learn more about her roots Faith herself takes a trip to Jamaica. So begins the second half of the novel. In Jamaica Faith learns the exotic and colourful histories of both her mother's and her father's families.

It's an engaging enough piece of fiction and the characters are nicely written, especially in the more contemporary and somehow more effortlessly written London half of the book. Less so later on but perhaps it's just that family sagas aren't my thing. It's shockingly poorly edited in places but I guess that isn't the author's fault. What's strange is how much of a cut-and-shut the novel is. The London half. The Jamaican half. Perhaps Andrea Levy really wanted to write two different books. I would've thought the obvious thing would have been to try and make the join less noticeable and either tell both stories in smaller serial chunks or even, I don't know, bring some of the London characters we've grown to know and love (and who are abruptly dropped after p.162) over to Jamaica for a grand finale. A wedding or a funeral.

Near the end, Faith tells her Auntie Coral that before she came to Jamaica she'd known nothing about her family. Auntie Coral replies: "Well, now you know a little, Faith. But there is more. There is always more." It's that kind of book. Not being big on family histories or genealogy I oughtn't to have liked the book nearly as much as I did.