British Jamaican author Andrea Levy's novel Small Island has been chosen to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom.

More than 50,000 copies of the novel were handed out free in the cities of Bristol, Hull, Glasgow and Liverpool, which all profited from the slave trade, in an effort to encourage discussion.

The best-selling novel, which won the prestigious Orange Prize in 2004, tells the story of the challenges that faced Jamaican immigrants arriving in the 'mother country', then recovering from the devastation of World War II.

'Windrush generation

Ms. Levy's own parents emigrated to London in 1948, as part of the 'Windrush' generation - named after the SS Empire Windrush, the steamship that transported the first West Indian immigrants.

"It has always been one of the aims of my writing to make the history of African Caribbean people in this country more visible and to show their story to be an important part of British history," she told The Guardian newspaper.

Yesterday, she was in Liverpool, where a slavery museum will be opened later this year, to discuss the book.