A review by booklywookly
The Emperor's Babe by Bernardine Evaristo

5.0

211 AD. Londonium. 11 year old Zuleika, born to Sudanese immigrants, has been married off to a wealthy, much older Roman business man. Despite her luxurious life, Zuleika craves excitement and passion, which she finds in an affair with the Roman Emperor, Septimius Severus. Is this gonna be a happily ever after story? Or will it turn out to be a Greek tragedy of Shakespearean proportion? (It turns out to be a tragedy of course). 

It’s a simple story, told in verses. Stylistic choice, though I admittedly have a difficulty in reading novels in verse, especially like this one, where sentences are broken haphazardly, and things don’t rhyme. But I was still able to enjoy the book fully. 

HOWEVER, what sets this book apart is the Afrocentric narrative that crushes all the expectations one could have when imagining early era London (raise your hand if it’s extremely white). Evaristo has spent time studying books by historians, learning that Africans had lived in Britain during the Roman occupation nearly eighteen hundred years ago.  By focusing on a black protagonist and her community, Evaristo subverts Eurocentric narratives that often marginalize or erase the presence of Africans in ancient history. This subversion is a form of resistance against the dominant historical discourse, offering an alternative perspective that celebrates diversity and inclusivity.

We have strong ambitious and promiscuous young women with radical ideas and yearnings living in a man’s world. The language used is so contemporary and modern that you would be forgiven not have remembered it being set in 2nd century Europe. It reminded me a lot of The Future Future (which I only read and reviewed last month and could well be my book of the year) 

This is my second Bernardine Evaristo book so far and I am already a fan.