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Never Far From Nowhere

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About this listen

 A passionate and perceptive story full of the pain and the humour of growing up, from Andrea Levy, author of the Orange Prize winning SMALL ISLAND and the Man Booker shortlisted THE LONG SONG.

NEVER FAR FROM NOWHERE is the story of two sisters, Olive and Vivien, born in London to Jamaican parents and brought up on a council estate. They go to the same grammar school, but while Vivien's life becomes a chaotic mix of friendships, youth clubs, skinhead violence, A-levels, discos and college, Olive, three years older and a skin shade darker, has a very different tale to tell...

(P) 2022 Headline Publishing Group Ltd©1996 Andrea Levy Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction World Literature
All stars
Most relevant
The narrator really bought the characters to life!
A very poignant novel for Black women readers - it tells so much of our stories.
Beautifully written. Reminded me of Dr. Maya Angelou's concise with so many subtextual themes - colourism, class, racism, sibling rivalry...
I enjoyed every minute!

Quality of Narration

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Fabulous narration and beautifully moving story of growing up in North London. Andrea Levy is a great educator about the real issues facing, in this case, the children of Jamaicans who came over on the Empire Windrush for 'a better life'. Listened to it in 2 sittings, provoking anger, shame and tears but smiles and laughter too.

Moving story of identity

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This is a great read, everything by Andrea Levy is very good, I like to read them all.

Excellent

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Did not want it to end. Wanted to know what happened to everyone at the end.
A good book.

The story telling was amazing and all the different accents, wow.

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it was a good veiw of the times, and the difference of experience of the two girls growing up, because of the difference of colour.
I wanted to give the mother a good slap at times for the way she too discriminated against her darker skinned daughter.
It was rather repetitive during the middle. Constant moaning by the mother, Vivian's escapades, or pointing out the comparisons, Olive's absolute negativity, if we could not get it for ourselves.
I almost gave up, it could have been more effective by being a bit shorter.

a good veiw of the times

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