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Start giftingGirl, Woman, Other
Narrator
Anna-Maria Nabirye
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Length
11 hours 6 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“The twelve Black British women who are the central characters in Bernardine Evaristo's GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER are so vastly different that when their connections are slowly revealed, like a spider web you didn't see until the light hits it just so, you'll settle in and become entranced. I loved this deep dive into a part of British culture that isn't often depicted. The form is unusual but once you give yourself over to it, you'll see why it works. I particularly loved the last part of the book which reminded me of enjoying a long leisurely meal and still leaving room for the perfect dessert. The ending was terribly satisfying. Highly recommend.”
— Rachel • Avid Bookshop
From one of Britain’s most celebrated writers of color comes a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women.
Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
The twelve central characters of this multivoiced novel lead vastly different lives: Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her Black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London’s funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley’s former students, is a successful investment banker; Carole’s mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about her daughter’s lack of rootedness despite her obvious achievements. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a ninety-three-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class.
Sparklingly witty and filled with emotion, centering voices we often see othered, and written in an innovative fast-moving form that borrows technique from poetry, Girl, Woman, Other is a polyphonic and richly textured social novel that shows a side of Britain we rarely see, one that reminds us of all that connects us to our neighbors, even in times when we are encouraged to be split apart.
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. Her writing spans reviews, essays, drama and radio, and she has edited and guest-edited national publications, including The Sunday Time's Style magazine. Her other awards and honours include an MBE in 2009. 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
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Reviews
“Nuanced and entertaining…Told from the point of view of twelve British women of color—all just a few degrees of separation apart from each other.”
“Readers…will be entertained, educated, and riveted.”
“A choral love song to black womanhood.”
“Evaristo has a gift for appraising the lives of her characters with sympathy and grace while gently skewering some of their pretensions.”
“A breathtaking symphony of black women’s voices, a clear-eyed survey of contemporary challenges that’s nevertheless wonderfully life-affirming.”
“The intermingling stories of generations of black British women told in a gloriously rich and readable free verse will surely be seen as a landmark in British fiction.”
“A sparkling new novel of interconnected stories…If you want to understand modern-day Britain, this is the writer to read.”
“Brims with vitality…She captures the shared experience that make us, as she puts it in her dedication, ‘members of the human family.’"
“Evaristo beguiles with her exceptional depictions of a range of experiences of black British women…A stunning powerhouse of vibrant characters and heartbreaks.”
“Voices of black women come to the fore in a swirl of interrelated stories that cover the past century of British life.”
“Nabirye projects the characters superbly: she has a full, low timbre and a powerful directness.”
“It takes a talented narrator to capture the voices of all these different people, and Nabirye does each one perfectly.”
“Nabirye’s warm, rhythmic voice embraces listeners from the first rush of words…and pulls you onto the merry-go-round of personalities and stories. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
“As she creates a space for immigrants and the children of immigrants to tell their stories…there is room for everyone to find a home in this extraordinary novel.”
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