The Long Song

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What did you think of the novel’s narrative frame, with the elderly July telling her story to her son, Thomas, who then edits it? How did July’s voice, with its interruptions and direct addresses to the reader, shape your experience of the book?

2. Levy’s novel is part of a genre known as the neo-slave narrative. How did you feel her approach to depicting life under slavery compared to other works you may have read on the subject, such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987) or Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (2016)?

3. After finishing the book, what image, character, or scene has stayed with you most vividly? What emotion did it leave you with?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. July learns to use performance, from feigned hysterics to fabricated stories, as a tool for survival. Think of a time when you adapted your behavior or personality to navigate a challenging power dynamic. What did you learn from that experience?

2. The novel centers on uncovering a lost family history. Does Thomas’s determination to learn his mother’s true story resonate with your own feelings about your family’s past?

3. The formerly enslaved community abandons their village at Amity to create a new, free settlement. What does it mean to you to create a sense of home or belonging for yourself?

4. July admits to inventing a happy ending for herself because the truth of her later life is too painful to write down. In your experience, what makes some memories or family histories difficult to share? 

5. Robert arrives at Amity with progressive ideals that quickly crumble when faced with reality. Have you ever entered a new situation with strong convictions, only to find them challenged in unexpected ways?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The story highlights the failures of the post-emancipation Apprenticeship System, showing that legal freedom did not guarantee economic or social liberation. What parallels can you draw between the struggles of Amity’s workers and contemporary movements for racial and economic justice?

2. Author Andrea Levy was a child of the “Windrush Generation” and wanted to counter the historical shame surrounding Jamaican heritage. How does knowing her personal motivation for writing The Long Song deepen your understanding of it?

3. How does the novel use the character of Miss Clara and the social events she hosts to explore the destructive impact of colorism within Jamaican society? In what ways do you see these kinds of social hierarchies play out in the world today?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the narrative frame, with July as the storyteller and Thomas as her editor, influence your trust in the story? 

2. What is the significance of Robert’s intense fear of cockroaches? How does Levy use this recurring motif to represent the plantation system and the characters’ shifting power dynamics?

3. The novel systematically deconstructs The Myth of the Benevolent Enslaver. Which character, Robert or Caroline, do you feel is the more compelling example of this theme, and what specific moments in the text best illustrate their hypocrisy?

4. In what ways do Caroline’s elaborate English clothes function as a symbol? What do they suggest about the colonial project as a whole?

5. How do Kitty’s and July’s experiences illustrate differing aspects of the theme of Motherhood Under the Strain of Enslavement?

6. How does the novel’s structure compare to other books with a frame narrative, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)? What does this literary device allow Levy to explore that a more straightforward narrative might not?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine you’re the artist Francis Bear, tasked with painting the portrait of Mr and Mrs Goodwin. What would your painting look like, and who or what would be its focus?

2. The book ends with Thomas’s search for his lost half-sister, Emily. If you were to write the next chapter, what do you imagine Emily’s life in England was like? 

3. If you were adapting The Long Song into a film or a miniseries, who would you cast in the roles of July, Caroline, and Robert?