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The Emperor's Babe
The Emperor's Babe
Nov 23, 2024 3:12 AM

Author:Bernardine Evaristo

The Emperor's Babe

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.

Reviews

A wistful and inspiring read to sweep you off your feet

—— Woman's Weekly

I thoroughly enjoyed this... it's an utterly charming and sigh-worthy romance.

—— Josie Silver, author of One Day in December and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird

Marvellous, breathtaking

—— - , The Times

A masterpiece of historical fiction

—— - , Washington Post

One of the greatest tale-spinners since Dumas

—— - , Cleveland Plain Dealer

Lashings of excitement, colour and subtlety

—— - , The Times

Vivid, engaging, densely plotted - are almost certainly destined to be counted among the classics of popular fiction

—— - , New York Times

Dunnett's legion of devoted readers will need no recommendation to buy Gemini. They would, I imagine, walk barefoot to the bookshop over broken glass to get it ... Anyone reading this novel, even as an introduction to Dunnett's work will, I suspect, join that band of admirers

—— - , Sunday Times

Superb. A perfect mix of humour, heart and insight

—— Gavin Extence, bestselling author of The Universe Versus Alex Wood

Excellent . . . beautifully and sensitively written, you will enjoy every sentence

—— Living Edge

Don Tillman is surely one of the most recognisable, distinctive narrators in modern fiction ... While this book is deeper and more thought-provoking than the first, there are many moments of humour and unexpected joy ... Uplifting, eye-opening and definite food for thought on whether we need to adapt to the world, or whether something the world is a better place in accommodating us as we are

—— My Weekly

UpLit novels to light up your life

—— Red Online

Entertaining and thought-provoking

—— BookTrib

What is normal, and who among us gets to decide what is? Or is it enough to simply be comfortable in one's own skin? These are the heavy questions at the crux of this lighthearted book about identity and the consequences of seeing other people through the lens of labels

—— San Francisco Chronicle

The message of inclusiveness and embracing differences is lovely. In the end, The Rosie Result is about learning to be comfortable with who you are

—— National Public Radio

Behind all the steady wit and the rolling jokes, this is a thoughtful and provocative novel. [Readers] will love it as much as they did The Rosie Project

—— Sydney Morning Herald

Praise for The Rosie Project Series

—— :

Compulsively readable. A poignant, universal story about how best to reconcile head and heart

—— Observer

Sublime, pitch-perfect, extremely funny

—— Independent

Brilliant, important, good-hearted

—— Guardian

Exuberantly life-affirming

—— Sunday Times

The book offers a touching and intelligent insight into autism, while Don's hilarious escapades keep the laughs coming

—— Morecambe Visitor

All three books in Simsion's series made me laugh out loud and were wonderfully endearing, genuine and open-hearted - everything I look for in a story

—— Post (Bristol)

Brilliant, important, good-hearted

—— Guardian

Who doesn’t love an offbeat love story? This one explores second chances, missteps and the importance of human connection. A touching celebration of the differences that make us all unique

—— Roisin Kelly , Sunday Times Style magazine

A cracker… Tyler’s touch is so assured you are held by every word… a pleasurable novel about intangible disappointments

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

A pleasure to read. It’s fractured, sad, strange and beautiful at the same time – like unreal real life

—— Literary Review

The literary queen of family relationships

—— Sarah Gilmartin , Irish Times

Tyler is an expert at writing about the human heart and relationships

—— UK Press Syndication

Tyler has succeeded once more in lifting up what so often passes unseen in our lives and celebrating it

—— Philippa Williams , Lady

Neatly observed, thoroughly well-meaning, sharply attuned

—— Private Eye

Anne Tyler… is a remarkable writer. You might say she is like a landscape painter who keeps returning to the same scene in different weathers… her stories hold your interest and please because they are rooted in her curiosity about the way we live, feel and think. She is a masterly examiner of the unexamined life

—— Allan Massie , Scotsman

Full of insight and sympathy. It is also highly absorbing — partly because of Tyler’s evocative style (when Micah considers his past, he is “visited by a kind of translucent scarf of a memory floating down upon him”), but mostly because of the intimacy with which she depicts the workings of Micah’s heart and mind...a quiet revelation

—— Matthew Adams , Financial Times

In wonderful prose, Tyler drills deep into a very ordinary life, familiar struggles, and a quiet heroism

—— David Hoyle , Church Times

Anne Tyler's masterful new novel asks what it might take for an unhappy man to change his life... her longevity means that her work has become a record of a certain kind of America, especially of "the dailiness of women's lives", for the past half century.

—— Benjamin Markovits , Prospect

A quiet and beautiful story about human relationships, written with intent observation, empathy and humour

—— Citizen Femme

A timely reminder of what matters: kindness and love

—— Cressida Connolly , Spectator Books of the Year

This gloriously warm novel felt heaven-sent when it appeared in deepest lockdown

—— Anthony Cummins , Metro, *Christmas Gift Guide 2020*

A new book from this wonderful writer is always a joy... Tyler packs feeling and insight into every single sentence

—— Joanne Finney , Good Housekeeping, *Books of the Year*

I adored Redhead by the Side of the Road... It is so subtle, and so brilliant as are all Tyler's novels... Witty and warm, its only fault was that I wanted it to be twice as long!

—— Victoria Hislop , Daily Express, *Books of the Year*

Tender and beautifully paced

—— Heather Martin , Daily Express, *Books of the Year*

Compassionate and alert to the complexities in even the most ordinary lives, the book reminds us why, at 79, Tyler is held in such high regard

—— Claire Allfree , Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*

The qualities that have long won Tyler admiration and affection - wry humour, shrewd perception, characters who leap off the page with authenticity - are in generous supply

—— Julia Durman , Sunday Times, *Books of the Year*

You can't go wrong with Anne Tyler. She makes it look easy creating characters that feel so believable, so three-dimensional

—— Robbie Millen , The Times, *Books of the Year*

Tyler engrosses with the 'and-thenand-then' of domestic detail

—— Rose Tremain , i

I do think the world would probably be a better place if everyone read Anne Tyler . . . She's such a brilliantly empathetic writer - there's no 'them' and 'us' in Tyler's world - and she often writes from the perspective of the kind of people who you would walk past and barely notice in the street . . . Reading Tyler helps people to become better people, and I really fully believe that

—— Hadley Freeman , Good Housekeeping

Tyler's irresistibly readable 23rd novel follows Micah, a socially inept, OCD-ish IT man whose orderly life is turned upside down by the arrival of a son

—— Daily Telegraph Books of the Year

Tyler's affectionate and quietly observant novel reveals her deep empathy for the hidden struggles of everyday lives

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

Another shrewd yet kindly novel about the mysterious business of family life by one of the world's great writers

—— Reader's Digest

A charmingly offbeat love story

—— Mail on Sunday, *Summer Reads of 2021*

Bursting with vitality and variety, it's a tour de force . . . fizzes with the qualities – characters who almost leap off the page with authenticity, speech and body language wonderfully caught – that, for more than half a century, have won her such admiration and affection

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times

One of the most influential writers of her generation . . . Her books are so irresistibly readable that it's startling to realise what technical marvels they often are

—— Philip Hensher , Daily Telegraph

Chuck envy, illicit passion and financial pressures into the pot and soon this carefully constructed broth is simmering to the boil

—— Cornish Times

Funny, clever and hilarious and the rest, an epic tale of an epic family, the Caseys

—— RTE Guide

A wonderful story, filled with heartbreak, empathy and Keyes's trademark humour . . . You'll laugh, cry, and might even have your heart broken, but it's definitely worth it

—— Independent

A funny and thoughtful read

—— Prima

Up there with her best

—— Sunday Express

A fabulous account of family and secrets, calling into question how civilised and "grown up" any of us actually are

—— Glamour UK

A fabulous account of family and secrets

—— Glamour UK

Marian Keyes nails the zeitgeist while handling a huge cast of characters with aplomb

—— Express and Star

The absolute queen of astute, moving and cracking-good-fun contemporary fiction returns

—— The Sun

Dazzlingly brilliant

—— Dereham Times

Brilliant as ever

—— Stellar

It's everything you could want in a Keyes book - funny, warm, tender and a complete page turner

—— The Handbook

A witty and compassionate story of modern life and relationships

—— Candis

An entertaining, sharp read that peels back the layers and nuances which shape the realities of family life and being an adult. Humorous, heart-warming and relatable

—— Stylist

Packed with emotional turmoil, but is light on her trademark wry wit and acerbic humour

—— Luxe

Keyes touches on the difficulties of broken relationships; eating disorders; emotional insecurity and other weighty subjects with her trademark humour and lightness of touch

—— Connaught Telegraph

Our Marian is back! And Grown Ups is one of her best yet, creating another memorable family saga

—— Stellar

Brilliantly plotted family saga

—— Tracy Thorn, New Statesman

A warm-hearted and wise tale of a family in trouble. Packed full of sharp observations and laugh-out-loud lines

—— i

Her writing just gets better and better . . . Grown Ups is funny and clever in the way it tackles addiction and eating disorders and the hurly burly of family life

—— Waitrose Weekend

A sharp satire of family dynamics and the trappings of wealth. It is a delicious thing - light and dark at once, full of acid observations and warmth, and fully attuned to the absurdities of familial life

—— The Gentleman's Journal

An entertaining story of family dynamics packed with vibrant characters, humour and empathy

—— The Sunday Times

A sharp, wry tale about a seemingly happy family with contemporary problems . . . despite the traumas, you'll whizz through it with a smile on your face

—— Oxfordshire Limited Edition

Keyes's captivating 14th novel tackles difficult issues with a sparkling style that makes it impossible to put down

—— Daily Mail

Marian Keyes is the most wonderful writer. She just gets better and better. She is a writer who believes in the best of us. She shows people's foibles but she also shows the love that binds us together in a very real way

—— Richard Osman

Her novels tackle hard subjects with such humour and warmth its impossible not to be drawn in

—— Jane Harper , Daily Mail

Another high-definition family comedy. An intoxicating, effervescent and warm look at modern life

—— Metro

A delightful and insightful examination of the modern family

—— Holly Bourne , Beastmag

Laughter and tears intertwine, as ever, in the latest from our leading chronicler of the emotional messiness of contemporary life

—— Guardian

The strength of this book lies in its relatability factor - I laughed, cried, nodded in recognition and laughed again

—— Irish News

Shines a light on the frustrations and gripes of family life, while inviting us to laugh at the petty reality of it all

—— London Living

A book to fall into and while away hours with

—— Writers Online

Funny, thought-provoking and hitting you right in the feels, Marian Keyes does it again

—— Red Online

I loved this complex family drama . . . Keyes nails every character she touches while keeping it all so relevant

—— Jamie Klingler , iNews

Praise for Marian Keyes

—— -

Mercilessly funny

—— The Times

Everything this woman touches turns to comic gold

—— Cosmopolitan

Comic, convincing and true. The warmth and empathy of Keyes's writing shine through this tale of family secrets revealed.

—— Katy Guest , Guardian

Clever, hilarious, poignant . . . Gloriously funny

—— Sunday Times

Wildly funny, romantic and nearly impossible to put down

—— Daily Mail

Her writing is a lovely mixture of funny and perceptive and bittersweet

—— Cressida Cowell

Full of brilliantly funny characters, genuine emotion and heaps of charm

—— Heat

Her books are humorous and have the quality of a warm bath

—— The Times

Classic Marian Keyes: a blizzard of wit and wisecracks

—— The Times

Keyes is an international treasure. The ultimate choice for a binge read

—— Stylist

When it comes to writing page-turners that put a smile on your face and make you think, Keyes is in a class of her own

—— Daily Express

Fabulously entertaining. The queen of intelligent women's fiction

—— Sunday Mirror

Full of darkness and light, this is Keyes at her classic and most brilliant best

—— Red

Keyes writes about women who are absolutely themselves, even when society tries to insist they are something else

—— Irish Times

Glorious, life-affirming

—— Woman & Home

Marian's glorious, warm-hearted wit is always guaranteed to make me laugh on the very first page

—— Liane Moriarty

There is no finer writer than Marian Keyes

—— Rowan Coleman

She really is unparalleled when it comes to making serious points with the lightest of touches

—— The Pool

Hilariously wise

—— Prima

Brutal yet endearing honesty, wonderful humour and astonishing acumen

—— Ruth Hogan

Keyes writes extremely well about modern women. Candid and deeply felt

—— Metro

Marian Keyes has an unparalleled talent for making you howl with laughter, nod in recognition and think at the same time

—— Sam Baker , Good Housekeeping

Always brilliant - and brilliantly funny

—— Best

A publishing sensation

—— Daily Express

There are few fiction writers today with as much verve and sense of independence as Marian Keyes

—— Daily Telegraph
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