Amma, Dominique, Yazz, Shirley, Carole, Bummi, LaTisha, Morgan, Hattie, Penelope, Winsome, Grace.
La plus jeune a dix-neuf ans, la plus âgée, quatre-vingt-treize. Elles sont douze femmes puissantes, apôtres du féminisme et de la liberté, chacune à sa manière, d'un bout de siècle à l'autre. Leurs vies s'épaulent, s'opposent et font la ronde. Chacune est en quête, de place, de classe, d'un avenir, d'une identité, du bonheur. Elles sont un choeur, un tableau vibrant et foisonnant, une ode à la différence et à la soif « d'être ensemble ».
Barrington Jedidiah Walter est marié à Carmel depuis un demi-siècle. À soixante-quatorze ans, toutes ses dents, Barrington Jedidiah Walter est plus que jamais le séducteur que Carmel a connu à Antigua, avant d'émigrer à Londres avec lui. Dandy, noceur, artiste de la conversation, ce gentleman des Caraïbes est un véritable « Valium humain ». Ils sont mariés depuis un demi-siècle et Barry est toujours très épris de son amour de jeunesse. Mais ce n'est pas Carmel.
Le corps musclé de Morris Courtney de la Roux rend Barry fou depuis soixante ans. Son âme-soeur devine sa moindre pensée, sa bouche termine ses phrases. Toute sa vie, Morris a supplié Barry de venir vivre avec lui, en vain. Pourquoi ? Convenances héritées de la société figée des Caraïbes ? Peur de choquer une épouse pieuse qui ne le croit que coureur de jupons ? Aujourd'hui, Barry sent que s'apprête à passer sa dernière chance d'être enfin heureux...
De cette histoire d'un homosexuel prisonnier d'un mariage malheureux, André Gide, puis Marguerite Yourcenar et Diane de Margerie avaient tiré des drames. Bernardine Evaristo, elle (lauréate du Booker Prize 2019 avec Margaret Atwood ), fait du récit de la libération de son héros un festival de bonne humeur, d'esprit et de fierté assumée.
Teeming with life and crackling with energy - a love song to modern Britain and black womanhood 'Astonishing. How she can speak through twelve different people and give them each such distinct and vibrant voices? I loved it. So much' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie 'Didn't think I could love a Bernardine Evaristo novel more than The Emperor's Babe but with Girl, Woman, Other she might just have outdone herself' Diana Evans, author of Ordinary People 'Bernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life' Ali Smith, author of How to be both 'Witty, exhilarating and wise... Once again, Bernardine Evaristo reminds us she is one of Britain's best writers' Nikesh Shukla 'Exceptional. Ambitious, flowing and all-encompassing, an offbeat narrative that'll leave your mind in an invigorated whirl... You have to order it right now' Stylist 'At turns funny and sad, tender and true, this book deserves to win awards' Red 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.
The powerful, urgent manifesto on never giving up from Booker prize-winning trailblazer, Bernardine Evaristobr>br>Bernardine Evaristo''s 2019 Booker win - the first by a Black woman - was a revolutionary moment both for British culture and for her. After three decades as a trailblazing writer, teacher and activist, she moved from the margins to centre stage, taking her place in the spotlight at last. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history. br>br>MANIFESTO is Bernardine Evaristo''s intimate and inspirational, no-holds-barred account of how she did it, refusing to let any barriers stand in her way. She charts her creative rebellion against the mainstream and her life-long commitment to the imaginative exploration of ''untold'' stories. And drawing deeply on her own experiences, she offers a vital contribution to current conversations around social issues such as race, class, feminism, sexuality and aging. br>br>This is a unique book about staying true to yourself and to your vision. It''s about how to be unstoppable - in your craft, your work, your life. It is Bernardine Evaristo''s manifesto for never giving up.br>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere.'' Elif Shafakbr>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is one of Britain''s best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtlety and humanity. Exceptional'' Nikesh Shuklabr>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is the most daring, imaginative and innovative of writers'' Inua Ellams>
'When I was invited to write this book, my first time writing about art, I immediately knew that I would turn my attention on women and womxn (to include non-binary people) of colour in British art because, similar to the story throughout the arts, either as creator or curator, we haven't been very visible. This book is personal - about the art I've seen, and the art I've loved - and my interpretation of the art in the national collection and beyond, from an intersectional feminist perspective.' - Bernardine Evaristo.
FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER WINNER OF THE NESTA FELLOWSHIP AWARD 2003 '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.
Stanley Williams, angst-ridden banker and boffin, wonders whether there's more to life than his daily nine-to-five grind. One night he's dragged to a disco at Piccadilly Circus and there he meets Jessie: artiste, motormouth, ducker and diver. She swoops Stanley out of his soulless life and off on a rollercoaster road trip across Europe, bringing him face to face with a host of forgotten luminaries from the rich mix of black European history and literature.
Teeming with life and crackling with energy - a love song to modern Britain and black womanhood 'Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere. Her tales marry down-to-earth characters with engrossing story lines about identity, and the UK of today' Elif Shafak 'Evaristo's books are always exciting, always subversive, a reminder of the boundless possibilities of literature and the great worth in reaching for them. Her body of work is incredible' Diana Evans 'Witty, exhilarating and wise... Once again, Bernardine Evaristo reminds us she is one of Britain's best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtly and humanity. Exceptional' Nikesh Shukla 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. 'If you don't yet know her work, you should - she says things about modern Britain that no one else does' Maggie Gee, Guardian
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.
The Emperor's Babe is Bernardine Evaristo's unique lyrical portrait of Roman LondonMeet Zuleika: sassy girl about town, hellraiser, bored ex-child-bride, black Roman in Londinium, AD 211. In the place (and time) to be . . .Through the bustling, hustling city, its slum tenements and sumptuous villas, we follow Zuleika, feisty and precocious daughter of Sudanese immigrants made good. Married to a fat, rich absent Roman, she is stranded in luxurious neglect, until, one day, Septimus Severus, the Emperor himself, comes to town, bringing with him not just love - but danger . . .Funky and funny, sexy and moving, this novel in verse is a triumph of imaginative writing - and of sheer lyrical and emotional vitality.'A heroine of ancient times for the modern age . . . a glittering fiction whose words leap off the page into life. Brilliant'The Times'Funny, engaging and daring'Independent on Sunday'Exhilarating . . . wildly entertaining then deeply affecting'Ali Smith'Adventurous, compelling and utterly original. You won't read another book like it this year'The TimesBernardine Evaristo is the author of three critically acclaimed 'verse novels' - Lara, The Emperor's Babe (which won the Arts Council Award in 2000) and Soul Tourists - and two prose novels, Blonde Roots and Mr Loverman. Evaristo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts, and was awarded an MBE in 2009. She lives in London.
This groundbreaking anthology of ten new poets truly reflects the multicultural make-up of contemporary Britain. At a time when less than 1% of all poetry books published in the UK are by black or Asian poets, the work of these writers testifies to the quality and versatility of vital writing that should not be overlooked. These new voices draw on cultural influences and multiple heritages that can only enrich and broaden the scope of contemporary British poetry. This anthology is the culmination of a much needed initiative by literature development agency Spread the Word to support talented Black and Asian poets. The poets' histories are to be found in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ireland and England. Their eclectic, wide-ranging poems will take you on a journey into war and exile, myth and magic, homeland and memory, fantasy, family and love. Whether travelling through the streets of London, the killing fields of Bangladesh, the cane fields of the Caribbean, or back in time to the life of a courtesan in 3rd century BC India, these poems will open up new landscapes for the reader. Ten's new poets are: Mir Mahfuz Ali, Rowyda Amin, Malika Booker, Roger Robinson, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Nick Makoha, Denise Saul, Seni Seneviratne, Shazea Quraishi and Janet Kofi-Tsekpo. Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.This groundbreaking anthology of ten new poets truly reflects the multicultural make-up of contemporary Britain. At a time when less than 1% of all poetry books published in the UK are by black or Asian poets, the work of these writers testifies to the quality and versatility of vital writing that should not be overlooked. These new voices draw on cultural influences and multiple heritages that can only enrich and broaden the scope of contemporary British poetry. This anthology is the culmination of a much needed initiative by literature development agency Spread the Word to support talented Black and Asian poets. The poets' histories are to be found in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ireland and England. Their eclectic, wide-ranging poems will take you on a journey into war and exile, myth and magic, homeland and memory, fantasy, family and love. Whether travelling through the streets of London, the killing fields of Bangladesh, the cane fields of the Caribbean, or back in time to the life of a courtesan in 3rd century BC India, these poems will open up new landscapes for the reader. Ten's new poets are: Mir Mahfuz Ali, Rowyda Amin, Malika Booker, Roger Robinson, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Nick Makoha, Denise Saul, Seni Seneviratne, Shazea Quraishi and Janet Kofi-Tsekpo. Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.
Bernardine Evaristo's Mr Loverman: 'Brokeback Mountain with ackee and saltfish and old people' Dawn French
Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he's lived in Hackney since the sixties. A flamboyant, wise-cracking local character with a dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for quoting Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father and grandfather - but he is also secretly homosexual, lovers with his great childhood friend, Morris.His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away?Mr Loverman is a ground-breaking exploration of Britain's older Caribbean community, which explodes cultural myths and fallacies and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.Praise for Bernardine Evaristo: 'One of Britain's most innovative authors . . . Bernardine Evaristo always dares to be different' New Nation'Evaristo remains an undeniably bold and energetic writer, whose world view is anything but one-dimensional' Sunday Times'Audacious genre-bending, in-yer-face wit and masterly retellings of underwritten corners of history are the hallmarks of Evaristo's work' New Statesman Bernardine Evaristo is the author of three critically acclaimed 'verse novels' - Lara, The Emperor's Babe (which won the Arts Council Award in 2000) and Soul Tourists. Mr Loverman is her second prose novel, after 2008's Blonde Roots. Evaristo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts, and was awarded an MBE in 2009. She lives in London.
It's a hot summer afternoon. Tension is in the air. A gang of youths on bikes gathers outside a chip shop. A teenage boy is stabbed and left bleeding on the street.
The boy's mother wonders how this could have happened to her son. She is full of questions, but when the answers lie so close to home, are they really what she wants to hear?
The funny and fabulous tale of two twentieth-century misfits and their adventure into European history...
It is 1988, and Jessie, artiste, motormouth, ducker and diver, meets Stanley, angst-ridden banker and boffin. Jessie arrives like a guardian angel and lifts Stanley out of his soul-less life. He ditches his job, and together they set off across Europe. Destination -- unknown. Duration -- indeterminate. So begins an odyssey which turns into an adventure on the stage of European history featuring Shakespeare's "dark lady of the sonnets", Pushkin's African great-grandfather, the composer Chevalier de St. Georges and other colourful characters from Europe's past.
The most provocative debut novel of the year, "a dizzying satire" (The New Yorker) that "boldly turns history on its head" (Elle).
What if the history of the transatlantic slave trade had been reversed and Africans had enslaved Europeans? How would that have changed the ways that people justified their inhuman behavior? How would it inform our cultural attitudes and the insidious racism that still lingers today? We see this tragicomic world turned upside down through the eyes of Doris, an Englishwoman enslaved and taken to the New World, movingly recounting experiences of tremendous hardship and the dreams of the people she has left behind, all while journeying toward an escape into freedom.
A poignant and dramatic story grounded in provocative ideas, Blonde Roots is a genuinely original, profoundly imaginative novel.
Lara is a powerful semi-autobiographical novel-in-verse based on Bernardine Evaristo's own childhood and family history. The eponymous Lara is a mixed-race girl raised in Woolwich, a white suburb of London, during the 60s and 70s. Her father, Taiwo, is Nigerian, and her mother, Ellen, is white British. They marry in the 1950s, in spite of fierce opposition from Ellen's family, and quickly produce eight children in ten years. Lara is their fourth child and we follow her journey from restricted childhood to conflicted early adulthood, and then from London to Nigeria to Brazil as she seeks to understand herself and her ancestry. The novel travels back over 150 years, seven generations and three continents of Lara's ancestry. It is the story of Irish Catholics leaving generations of rural hardship behind and ascending to a rigid middle class in England; of German immigrants escaping poverty and seeking to build a new life in 19th century London; and of proud Yorubas enslaved in Brazil, free in colonial Nigeria and hopeful in post-war London. Lara explores the lives of those who leave one country in search of a better life elsewhere, but who end up struggling to be accepted even as they lay the foundations for their children and future generations. This is a new edition of Bernardine Evaristo's first novel Lara, rewritten and expanded by a third since its first publication in 1997.Lara is a powerful semi-autobiographical novel-in-verse based on Bernardine Evaristo's own childhood and family history. The eponymous Lara is a mixed-race girl raised in Woolwich, a white suburb of London, during the 60s and 70s. Her father, Taiwo, is Nigerian, and her mother, Ellen, is white British. They marry in the 1950s, in spite of fierce opposition from Ellen's family, and quickly produce eight children in ten years. Lara is their fourth child and we follow her journey from restricted childhood to conflicted early adulthood, and then from London to Nigeria to Brazil as she seeks to understand herself and her ancestry. The novel travels back over 150 years, seven generations and three continents of Lara's ancestry. It is the story of Irish Catholics leaving generations of rural hardship behind and ascending to a rigid middle class in England; of German immigrants escaping poverty and seeking to build a new life in 19th century London; and of proud Yorubas enslaved in Brazil, free in colonial Nigeria and hopeful in post-war London. Lara explores the lives of those who leave one country in search of a better life elsewhere, but who end up struggling to be accepted even as they lay the foundations for their children and future generations. This is a new edition of Bernardine Evaristo's first novel Lara, rewritten and expanded by a third since its first publication in 1997.
