First Chapter of Small Island

I've decided to read Small Island by Andrea Levy. The reason is simply because both the author and book caught my eye. The fact that she writes books that she wishes to read herself, made me interested. The plot had an unfamiliar topic to me, and I thought I should know more about the type of culture clash that Small Island presents. The book

The book starts with a brief prologue, and after that the story takes place in London 1948, post war, with flashbacks that takes the reader back to the war. We get to know Hortense who is a classy and educated Jamaican woman. She arrives to England to meet her husband, Gilbert. They have an arranged marriage in order to get Hortense safely to England. Hortense arrives to London and can't find her shabby husband anywhere on the dock. She manages to find Gilbert's current state of living by herself and is not pleased with what she sees. In front of her is a lodging and grim house towering up to the sky. A blonde, english woman named Queenie meets Hortense in the door ...

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The setting in the first chapter is quite vivid. The way the author describes the streets, feelings and people already makes me want to continue this book. Hortense's disgust over the filth in London explains how bad the conditions were, and opens Hortense more up as a person. England was far away from the golden city of her dreams. At first I was confused with why a woman met Hortense in the door of her husband's house, but this is all covered later in the book.