Bernardine Evaristo - The Emperor’s Babe: A Novel

Bernardine Evaristos books of fiction and verse fiction include Mr Loverman, Blonde Roots, Soul Tourists and Hello Mum. Her numerous other works span the genres of short fiction, essays, literary criticism, editorships, theatre and BBC radio drama. She has won several awards and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2004 and an MBE in 2009. She has also judged many literary prizes and founded the Complete Works, a mentoring scheme for poets, in 2008 and the Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2012. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London. www.bevaristo.com One of The Timess 100 Best Books of the Decade, November 2009 Adventurous, compelling and utterly original. You wont read another book like it this year The Times: Best of Summer Books Sexy, clever and ingenious: a verse romp set in Roman Londinium.

Why must fiction always be in prose? Independent: A Dozen Alternatives to the Booker longlist Exotic, erotic and incredibly entertaining, this is, amazingly, a verse novel you cant put down Observer Evaristos strikingly original The Emperors Babe makes you feel that you are reading something that has never before been attempted, a sensation to savour. Written in fresh, zingy, witty language that combines tags of Latin, historically authentic references and twenty-first century teen slang, it is a fast, exciting read whose occasional bittersweet notes build until it turns like a ballad from comedy to tragedy The Emperors Babe is a modern work of art that uses the literary tradition with such light assurance that everything seems new. Brushing off the dust of 1,800 years like a cobweb, Evaristos golden lads and girls dance in the sun before us, glistening, frail and real. Vivat Zuleika Sunday TimesThe Emperors Babe is unexpectedly sassy, funny, engaging and very sexy. Honest to God, youll love it Sunday Independent (Ireland), a Book of the Year, 2001 If there is any justice in the world, The Emperors Babe will be a huge hit. The Emperors Babe is exactly what the title suggests: the adventures of a sassy, sexy, girl about town Its also funny, engaging and a daring evocation of the possible genesis of black British history. The Emperors Babe is exactly what the title suggests: the adventures of a sassy, sexy, girl about town Its also funny, engaging and a daring evocation of the possible genesis of black British history.

By puncturing the imperial pomp of Latin vocabulary with the cut and thrust of modern street talk, Evaristo demystifies much of the gilded decorum Rome evokes The punchy poetry is perfect for the rhythm of the emperors babe, the epitome of all that is fast, fresh, funky Independent on Sunday, a Book of the Year, 2001 Evaristos delicious The Emperors Babe is, as they say, something completely different: a fresh and original historical novel, narrated in verse Bookseller It is a highly enjoyable romp Guardian Evaristo uses her second verse novel to set about the Roman Empire with a gleeful disregard for decorum the ancient Romans havent suffered such irreverence since Carry on Cleo It has great charm and vitality Daily Telegraph, a Book of the Year, 2001 This is a belter of a book. Told at breakneck speed by an incredible talent. This novel deserves to win every award going. Bound to be a bestseller and a classic New London Independent Wildy imaginative Red Magazine Pick of the Month The Emperors Babe is an undoubted triumph it is a beautifully crafted work Wasafiri Literary Magazine Evaristo re-writes history in her extraordinary tale of Roman London [The Emperors Babe] breaks all the rules. A world where ancient and contemporary zeitgeists converge, it offers a whole new take on the concept of the London novel an hilarious, streetwise tragicomedy The Voice Evaristo is youthful and daring, with hidden depths of wisdom and hilarity, and she has delivered an entirely new concept for the historical novel, as well as the London novel Independent There are few books more quirky and original than Bernardine Evaristos new offering The Emperors Babe. Evaristo has managed to capture, with contemporary clarity, humour and a host of quirky characters, what London might have been like 2,000 years ago New Nation Irreverent, fun, and amusingly anachronistic The gladiatorial scene is not to be missed Consistently amusing, clever and inventive Library Journal USA Smart, imaginative and readable a rich farrago of historical fact and outrageous fancy The New York Times A vividly imagined albeit distinctly modern look at a womans role in Roman times by a talented writer with a fertile mind and playful spirit Publishers Weekly For Nicholas The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it. OSCAR WILDE

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Who do you love? Who do you love, when the man you married goes off for months on end, quelling rebellions at the frontiers, or playing hot-shot senator in Rome; his flashy villa on the Palatine Hill, home to another woman, I hear, one who has borne him offspring.

My days are spent roaming this house, its vast mosaic walls full of the scenes on Olympus, for my husband loves melodrama. They say his mistress is an actress, a flaxen-Frulein type, from Germania Superior. Oh, everyone envied me, Illa Bella Negreeta! born in the back of a shop on Gracechurch Street, who got hitched to a Roman nobleman, whose parents sailed out of Khartoum on a barge, no burnished throne, no poop of beaten gold, but packed with vomiting brats and cows releasing warm turds on to their bare feet. Thus perfumed, they made it to Londinium on a donkey, with only a thin purse and a fat dream. Here in the drizzle of this wild west town Dad wandered the streets looking for work, but there was no room at the inn, so he set up shop on the kerb and sold sweet cakes which Mum made. (Hes told me this story a mille times.) Now he owns several shops, selling everything from vino to shoes, veggies to tools, and he employs all sorts to work in them, a Syrian, Tunisian, Jew, Persian, hopefuls just off the olive barge from Gaul, in fact anyone wholl work for pebbles.

When Felix came after me, Dad was in ecstasy, father-in-law to Lucius Aurelius Felix, no less. I was spotted at the baths of Cheapside, just budding, and my fate was sealed by a man thrice my age and thrice my girth, all at sweet eleven even then Dad thought I was getting past it. Then I was sent off to a snooty Roman bitch called Clarissa for decorum classes, learnt how to talk, eat and fart, how to get my amo amas amat right, and ditch my second-generation plebby creole. Zuleika accepta est.Zuleika delicata est.Zuleika bloody goody-two shoes est. But I dreamt of creating mosaics, of remaking my town with bright stones and glass. But no! Numquam! Its not allowed. Sure, Felix brings me presents, when he deigns to come west.