I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book. It ran to 11 hours 20 mins and was narrated by the author and Adrian Lester. The story is set in Jamaica towards the end of slavery and follows the life of Miss July aka Marguerite who is born into slavery on a sugar plantation. Through this timeline we are given an account of the events leading to the end of slavery in Jamaica.

I enjoyed Andrea Levy's narration and found the story of July's early life very interesting. However, I felt that the author adopted a laid back style of writing which had the efffect of distancing the reader from the characters. It made me feel less empathy for the downtrodden slaves and less disgust for the white plantation owners and overseers than than they deserved.

The first part of July's life was covered in great detail and I felt that it would have been better to have finished the book at an earlier point rather than sum up later events at break neck speed.

Overall I'm glad to have heard the story and am more knowledgeable about the history of slavery in Jamaica than I was before.