Shadow and Act reports that BBC One has approved a three-part adaptation of Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel about the dying days of slavery in Jamaica, The Long Song. The novel was shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize and longlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize. It was the recipient of the 2011 Walter Scott Prize.
A follow-up to her 2004 historical fiction novel Small Island, which was also adapted for the small screen (starring Naomie Harris and David Oyelowo), the British-Jamaican author’s The Long Song (published in 2010) is written as a memoir by an elderly Jamaican woman living in early 19th century Jamaica during the final years of slavery, and the transition to freedom that would follow. It tells the story of a young slave girl named July who lives at Amity – a sugarcane plantation – through the bloody 1831 Baptist War, and the violent end to slavery that led to the beginning of freedom.
Three hundred years of slavery finally came to a chaotic end on the British-ruled Caribbean island in 1838. It is a rarely-acknowledged part of British colonial history. And though Abolition may have been the first step on the road to racial equality, it’s a very long road still travel today. But The Long Song offers a story of hope, passion and determination that’s full of insight and humor.
Sarah Williams (Small Island) has been tapped to script the adaptation which will be produced by Heyday Television (Harry Potter, Gravity).
“I am particularly happy to have my novel, The Long Song, adapted by Heyday and the BBC. This untold story from Britain’s complex past in the Caribbean will be a period drama like no other,” novelist Andrea Levy said. [. . .]
For full article, see https://shadowandact.com/bbc-sets-3-part-adaptation-of-epic-award-winning-novel-about-dying-days-of-slavery-in-jamaica
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