Wonder of the World

I have only read around 100 pages of Andrea Levy's Small Island, but already her characters' voices are tumbling around my imagination. While Hortense is unintentionally funny, Gilbert goes for the laughs.

Regarding the shock of bland English food to his Jamaican palate:

"How the English built empires when their armies marched on nothing but mush should be one of the wonders of the world."