Synopses & Reviews
Bernardine Evaristos tale of forbidden love in bustling third-century London is an intoxicating cocktail of poetry, history, and fiction. Feisty, precocious Zuleika, daughter of Sudanese immigrants-made-good and restless teenage bride of a rich Roman businessman, craves passion and excitement. When she begins an affair with the emperor, Septimius Severus, she knows her life will never be the same. Streetwise, seductive, and lyrical, with a lively, affecting heroine, The Emperors Babe is a strikingly imaginative historical novel-in-verse.
Review
Smart, imaginative, and readable . . . A rich farrago of historical fact and outrageous fancy. (The New York Times Book Review) A heroine of ancient times for the modern age... a glittering fiction... brilliant. (The Times, London) A riotous, racy whirl through Roman Londinium... Bernardine Evaristo has spun a captivating tale in verse. (Robert Fagles)
Synopsis
"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
About the Author
Bernardine Evaristo was born in London to a Nigerian father and an English mother. She trained as an actress and cofounded a theater company for which she wrote plays and acted. She has won numerous writing awards for prose and poetry, including the EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards) Best Book Award for her novel Lara. She has held writing fellowships at the University of East Anglia and Barnard College.