'Wildly entertaining, deeply affecting' Ali Smith, author of How to be both and Autumn A coming-of-age tale to make the muses themselves roar with laughter and weep for pity -- sassy, razor-sharp and transformative -- from the acclaimed author of Mr Loverman Londinium, AD 211. Zuleika is a modern girl living in an ancient world. She's a back-alley firecracker, a scruffy Nubian babe with tangled hair and bare feet - and she's just been married off a fat old Roman. Life as a teenage bride is no joke but Zeeks is a born survivor. She knows this city like the back of her hand: its slave girls and drag queens, its shining villas and rotting slums. She knows how to get by. Until one day she catches the eye of the most powerful man on earth, the Roman Emperor, and her trouble really starts... Silver-tongued and merry-eyed, this is a story in song and verse, a joyful mash-up of today and yesterday. Kaleidoscoping distant past and vivid present, The Emperor's Babe asks what it means to be a woman and to survive in this thrilling, brutal, breathless world.

Emperors Babe

Literature & Fiction

Evaristo, Bernardine

Contemporary

Penguin Uk

Hello Mum

Literary

Hamish Hamilton

The Emperor's Babe

“Lots of fun . . . like an episode of Sex and the City written by Ovid.”—Kirkus Reviews Bernardine Evaristo’s tale of forbidden love in bustling third-century London is an intoxicating cocktail of poetry, history, and fiction. Feisty, precocious Zuleika, a restless teenage bride of a rich Roman businessman, craves passion and excitement. She wanders through his villa, bored, or sneaks out to see her old friends, seeking an outlet for her creativity. Then she begins an affair with the emperor, Septimus Severus, remembered to history as the “African Emperor,” and she knows her life will never be the same. Streetwise, seductive, and lyrical, The Emperor’s Babe is a “glittering fiction” with a “heroine of ancient times for the modern age” (The Times). “The adventures of a sassy, sexy girl about town . . . Funny, engaging, and a daring evocation of the possible genesis of black British history.”—The Independent on Sunday “Smart, imaginative, and readable . . . A rich farrago of historical fact and outrageous fancy.”—The New York Times Book Review “Zuleika leads us on a riotous, racy whirl through Roman Londinium—while displaying her lyric gift throughout, and at last her heartbreak to the core, and her own embrace of doom. . . . a captivating tale in verse.”—Robert Fagles

British & Irish

Penguin Publishing Group

Blonde Roots

Welcome to a world turned upside down. One minute, Doris, from England, is playing hide-and-seek with her sisters in the fields behind their cottage. The next, someone puts a bag over her head and she ends up in the hold of a slave-ship sailing to the New World ...In this fantastically imaginative inversion of the transatlantic slave trade - in which 'whytes' are enslaved by black people - Bernardine Evaristo has created a thought-provoking satire that is as accessible and readable as it is intelligent and insightful. Blonde Roots brings the shackles and cries of long-ago barbarity uncomfortably close and raises timely questions about the society of today.

Teeming with life and crackling with energy - a love song to modern Britain, to black womanhood, to the ever-changing heart of London
Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.
Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.
'A daring evocation of black British history... Sexy, punchy [and] fresh' Independent on Sunday on The Emperor's Babe

Girl, Woman, Other

United States

Penguin Readers Level 7: Girl, Woman, Other (ELT Graded Reader)

Business & Money

Job Hunting & Careers

Penguin

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Girl, Woman, Other (Booker Prize 2019)

Manifesto

The rediscovered classic: a trailblazing Guyanese woman's memoir of post-war London, introduced by Bernardine Evaristo ('full of wit, perceptiveness, humour and compassion')Benjamin Zephaniah: 'A must-read. Her life makes you laugh. Her life makes you cry. Get to know her.'Jacqueline Wilson: 'A superb but shocking memoir ... Imaginative, resilient and inspiring.'Steve McQueen: 'Gilroy blazed a path that empowered generations of Black British educators.'David Lammy: 'This empowering tale of courage, resistance, and triumph is a breath of fresh air.'Diana Evans: 'Important, enlightening and very entertaining, full of real-life drama ... Inspirational.'Paul Mendez: 'Written with a novelist's ear and sense of atmosphere ... A vital and unique testament.'Jeffrey Boakye: 'A landmark. Warm and wise ... Life lessons we can all learn from.' Alex Wheatle: 'A pioneer in many fields and wonderful example for all of us ... Essential reading.'Christie Watson: 'A beautiful memoir of one woman's strength and dignity against the odds.'Denied teaching jobs due to the colour bar. Working in an office amidst the East End's bombsites. Serving as a lady's maid to an Empire-loving aristocrat. Raising two children in suburbia. Becoming one of the first black headteachers in Britain.In 1952, Beryl Gilroy moved from British Guiana to London. Her new life wasn't what she expected - but her belief in education resulted in a revolutionary career. Black Teacher, her memoir, is a rediscovered classic: not only a rare insight into the Windrush generation, but a testament to how her dignity, ambition and spirit transcended her era.**WATERSTONES PICK: JULY'S BEST BOOKS**Reader Reviews:'Incredibly important ... Such an interesting read, and I am so glad that it is being republished.''Wonderful and insightful. I really, thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.''Eye-opening ... A powerful reminder of how far we have come ... Beautifully written ... I wish everyone could have a teacher like Beryl!''Really lovely, and a surprisingly quick read ... I wish I could have met her.''A great piece of history [with] so much relevance even today as it touches upon issues of race, education and female empowerment.''Excellent [on] what it was really like for the Windrush Generation... Highly recommended.'

Black Teacher: 'A Hugely Important Memoir' (Bernardine Evaristo)

Biographies & Memoirs

Gilroy, Beryl

Community & Culture

Faber&Faber

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