THE SUNDAY TIMES 1# BESTSELLER & BOOKER PRIZE WINNER

This is Britain as you've never read it.
This is Britain as it has never been told.

From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope . . .

'The most absorbing book I read all year' Roxane Gay

'[Bernardine Evaristo] is one of the very best that we have' Nikesh Shukla

'Beautifully interwoven stories of identity, race, womanhood, and the realities of modern Britain. The characters are so vivid, the writing is beautiful and it brims with humanity' Nicola Sturgeon

'A choral love song to black womanhood in modern Great Britain' Elle

'Bernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life' Ali Smith

'Exceptional. You have to order it right now' Stylist

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.

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.

Treat a loved one to this joyful, big-hearted read from Booker Prize-winning novelist Bernardine Evaristo...

'[Mr Loverman is] Brokeback Mountain with ackee and saltfish and old people' Dawn French

WINNER OF THE JERWOOD FICTION UNCOVERED PRIZE 2014 and FERRO GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBT FICTION 2015

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.

'This honest, engaging memoir shares such gems . . . the perfect read for anyone who dreams big' The Times and Sunday Times, Books of the Year

The powerful, urgent memoir and manifesto on never giving up from Booker prize-winning trailblazer, Bernardine Evaristo

In 2019, Bernardine Evaristo became the first black woman to win the Booker Prize since its inception fifty years earlier - a revolutionary landmark for Britain. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history.

Manifesto is her intimate and fearless account of how she did it. From a childhood steeped in racism from neighbours, priests and even some white members of her own family, to discovering the arts through her local youth theatre; from stuffing her belongings into bin bags, always on the move between temporary homes, to exploring many romantic partners both toxic and loving, male and female, and eventually finding her soulmate; from setting up Britain's first theatre company for Black women in the eighties to growing into the trailblazing writer, theatre-maker, teacher, mentor and activist we see today - Bernardine charts her rebellion against the mainstream and her life-long commitment to community and creativity. And, through the prism of her extraordinary experiences, she offers vital insights into the nature of race, class, feminism, sexuality and ageing in modern Britain.

Bernardine Evaristo's life story is a manifesto for courage, integrity, optimism, resourcefulness and tenacity. It's a manifesto for anyone who has ever stood on the margins, and anyone who wants to make their mark on history. It's a manifesto for being unstoppable.


'Raw and emotive . . . a powerful account of how Evaristo got to the top of her game - it's moving, but there's also much humour and joy' Independent

'Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere' Elif Shafak

'Bernardine Evaristo is one of Britain's best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtlety and humanity. Exceptional' Nikesh Shukla

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2009
WINNER OF THE ORANGE YOUTH PANEL AWARD 2009
FINALIST FOR THE HURSTON WRIGHT LEGACY AWARD 2010

'A phenomenal book. It is so ingenious and so novel. Think The Handmaid's Tale meets Noughts and Crosses with a bit of Jonathan Swift and Lewis Carroll thrown in. This should be thought of as a feminist classic.' Women's Prize for Fiction Podcast

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.

'A bold and brilliant game of counterfactual history. Evaristo keep[s] her wit and anger at a spicy simmer throughout' Daily Telegraph

'So human and real. Re-imagines past and present with refreshing humour and intelligence' Guardian

'A brilliant satire whose flashes of comedy make the underlying tragedy all the more poignant' Scotland on Sunday

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER

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?

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER

'Evaristo possesses enough ball-busting originality to create whole novels for each of the historical characters she resurrects . . . [she creates] funky yarns so tantalising you want to devour them' Guardian

Meet Stanley Williams: Single, in his thirties, grieving the death of his Jamaican father and wondering if there is more to life than his nine-to-five banking job in a sky-high glass menagerie.

Enter Jessie O'Donnell: barmaid, former singer-cum-comedienne, and desperate to get into her rusty old Lady Niva and hit the freeway across Europe.

The unlikely pair begin an electrifying odyssey that weaves in and out of history, colliding with the forgotten heroes of Europe's past. Shakespeare's mysterious 'Dark Lady of the Sonnet's, Pushkin and his Ethiopian great-grandfather and the mixed-race Allessandro de' Medici of Florence are all ready to have their voices heard, and Stanley and Jessie do what they can to hang on for the ride . . .

'A bouncy. . . touching novel about the search for love and belonging' The Times

»Evaristo schreibt über das moderne Großbritannien wie keine Zweite.« The Guardian

In diesem Roman zeigt Bernardine Evaristo einmal mehr, warum sie zu den wichtigsten Stimmen der britischen Gegenwartsliteratur zählt. Ihr unverwechselbarer Schreibstil, ihr trockener Humor, ihr scharfsinniger Blick auf das Zusammenspiel zwischenmenschlicher Beziehungen und gesellschaftlicher Ansprüche – all das verbindet sich in Mr. Loverman zu einem unvergleichlichen Streifzug durch die Caribbean Community in England.

Barrington Jedidiah Walker, geboren und aufgewachsen in Antigua, liebt seine Retro-Anzüge und hat zu jeder Gelegenheit das passende Shakespeare-Zitat parat. Mit seiner Frau Carmel führt er ein beschauliches Leben in Hackney: zwei erwachsene Kinder, ein heimeliges Haus, Ruhestand. Doch unter der perfekten Oberfläche führt Barry ein Doppelleben. Seit Kindertagen liebt er seinen Freund Morris, der wie er als junger Mann nach England ausgewandert ist – und Morris liebt ihn. Die tief religiöse und von ihrer Ehe bitter enttäuschte Carmel ahnt, dass ihr Mann sie betrügt, allerdings hat sie keine Ahnung, mit wem. Während sich die Ehe der beiden auf den unvermeidlichen Abgrund zubewegt, entscheidet Barry, dass er endlich offen mit Morris zusammenleben will. Aber ist das möglich, nach all den Jahren des verborgenen Daseins? Mr. Loverman entlarvt die Irrtümer, denen wir in unserem Leben unterliegen. Mit welchen Konsequenzen müssen wir rechnen, wenn wir uns treu bleiben wollen? Und was, wenn die Angst vor diesen Konsequenzen einfach zu groß ist?

»Wer Evaristos Bücher noch nicht kennt, sollte das unbedingt ändern – sie schreibt über das moderne Großbritannien wie keine Zweite.« The Guardian

»Eine brillante und – wie Mr. Barrington Walker, Esq. selbst zugegeben haben könnte – ausgesprochen kluge Charakterstudie des modernen London.« Independent on Sunday

»Das Schreckgespenst Homosexualität hat eine lange Tradition auf den Westindischen Inseln - Bernardine Evaristo widmet sich jedem Aspekt davon. Ein zarter, zukunftsweisender Roman.« The Spectator

»Ein tiefgründiger, humorvoller und vor allem anrührender Roman. Evaristo erzählt uns von Lebenswelten, die wir zu kennen glauben, und räumt mit unseren Vorstellungen auf.« Independent

»Ein wunderschön geschriebenes Buch, über das hinterher mit jedem reden möchte, den man kennt.« Bloggers Recommend

»Evaristo erzählt mit genauem, auch gnadenlosen Blick, pointiert und ironisch von den Dingen, die zu lange im Schatten standen und bis heute stehen.« ttt

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.

Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.

The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.

Girl, Woman, Other, a Level 7 Reader, is B2 in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future perfect simple, past perfect continuous, mixed conditionals, more complex passive forms and modals for deduction in the past.

Girl, Woman, Other is a powerful novel about race and the lives and journeys of twelve people. It celebrates the importance of coming together to share, love, and take care of each other.


Visit the Penguin Readers website
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

De uma autora e obra premiadas, este é um retrato realista de uma sociedade multicultural que se confronta com a herança do seu passado e luta contra as contradições do presente.

Vencedor do Booker Prize 2019

Livro do Ano e Autora do Ano do British Book Awards 2020

Finalista do Women's Prize de Ficção 2020

Finalista do Orwell Prize de Ficção Política 2020

As doze personagens centrais deste romance a várias vozes levam vidas muito diferentes: desde Amma, uma dramaturga cujo trabalho artístico frequentemente explora a sua identidade lésbica negra, à sua amiga de infância, Shirley, professora, exausta de décadas de trabalho nas escolas subfinanciadas de Londres; a Carole, uma das ex-alunas de Shirley, agora uma bem-sucedida gestora de fundos de investimento, ou a mãe desta, Bummi, uma empregada doméstica que se preocupa com o renegar das raízes africanas por parte da filha. Quase todas elas mulheres, negras e, de uma maneira ou de outra, resultado do legado do império colonial britânico. As suas histórias, a das suas famílias, amigos e amantes, compõem um retrato multifacetado e realista dos nossos dias, de uma sociedade multicultural que se confronta com a herança do seu passado e luta contra as contradições do presente.

Um romance atual, brilhantemente escrito, que repensa as questões de identidade, género e classe com o pano de fundo do colonialismo, da emigração e da diáspora.

«Uma escrita apaixonante, incisiva, repleta de energia e humor.»

Júri do Booker Prize

«Vital e revolucionário, triunfante e terno, este romance celebrado

é uma polifonia criada para mudar vidas, incluindo as dos leitores.»

VISÃO

«Bernardine Evaristo criou um mosaico de vozes e identidades femininas,

tornando as mulheres negras visíveis na literatura britânica.»

JOSÉ MÁRIO SILVA, EXPRESSO

«Rapariga, Mulher, Outra fervilha de vitalidade...

Evaristo revela as experiências comuns que fazem de todos nós

elementos da mesma família humana.»

FINANCIAL TIMES

«Se ainda não conhece, devia conhecer a obra desta autora.»

THE GUARDIAN

«Maravilhoso… Este livro mudou a minha forma

de pensar.»

TOM STOPPARD, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Fifteen specially commissioned essays from distinguished authors explore the place of the writer, past and present, the value of critical thinking, and the power of the written word. Their work articulates 'brave new words' at the heart of battles against limitations on fundamental rights of citizenship, the closure of national borders, fake news, and an increasing reluctance to engage with critical democratic debate. Contributors include Eva Hoffman, Romesh Gunesekera, Githa Hariharan, James Kelman, Tabish Khair, Kei Miller, Blake Morrison, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Hsiao-Hung Pai, Olumide Popoola, Shivanee Ramlochan, Bina Shah, Raja Shehadeh and Marina Warner.