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The Emperor's Babe

byBernardine Evaristo

From the Booker prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

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'Dazzling', 'brilliant', 'streetwise', 'sassy', 'audacious': THE EMPEROR'S BABE has been hailed as one of the most original novels of 2001. Meet Zuleika: sassy girl about town, hellraiser, bored ex-child-bride in Londinium, AD 211. In the place (and time) to be ... Through the bustling, hustling city, we follow Zuleika, feisty and precocious daughter of Sudanese immigrants. Married off to a rich, fat, absent Roman, she is stranded in luxurious neglect, until, one day 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.

About Bernardine Evaristo

Bernardine Evaristo, MBE, is the award-winning author of eight books of fiction and verse fiction that explore aspects of the African diaspora.

Her novel Girl, Woman, Other made her the first black woman to win the Booker Prize in 2019, as well winning the Fiction Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards in 2020, where she also won Author of the Year, and the Indie Book Award. She also became the first woman of colour and black British writer to reach No.1 in the UK paperback fiction chart in 2020.

In 2025 she was awarded the Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award. Her other awards and honours include an MBE in 2009 and an OBE in 2020. Her writing spans reviews, essays, drama and radio, and she has edited and guest-edited national publications, including The Sunday Time's Style magazine.

Bernardine is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University, London, and President of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in London with her husband.
www.bevaristo.com
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780141904627
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Price: £5.99
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