Girl, Woman, Other

Starred review from October 28, 2019
Evaristo (Mr. Loverman) beguiles with her exceptional depictions of a range of experiences of black British women in this Man Booker–shortlisted novel. Each interconnected chapter focuses on one of 12 women across decades within a few degrees of connection to middle-aged lesbian Amma. In the present, Amma remembers her years of precarious living and feminist agitation through theater while preparing for the opening night of her of her play about African Amazonian warriors at the National Theatre. Amma’s firebrand daughter, Yazz, hopes for a boyfriend at university but instead forms a diverse friend group that challenges her ideas about race and privilege. Amma’s best friend, Dominique, moves to America with an increasingly controlling girlfriend. Amma’s oldest friend, Shirley, is a discouraged schoolteacher, still hurt that her former student Carole did not appreciate her help launching her toward her lucrative, if frustrating, bank career. Shirley’s prickly colleague Penelope, a twice-divorced middle-class woman, hires Carole’s mother, Bummi, a Nigerian immigrant, as a cleaner. Morgan, a non-binary social media personality, enjoys laboring on the family’s north England farm, while their nonagenarian great-grandmother, Hattie, internally grumbles about her descendants’ indifference and the shock of family secrets. Hattie’s deceased mother, Grace, proudly Abyssinian, struggles with the death of her young children in a chapter set in the 1920s. The after-party following Amma’s play sparks awkward and revealing encounters between many of the women. Evaristo’s fresh, clipped style adds urgency riddled with sparks of humor. This is a stunning powerhouse of vibrant characters and heartbreaks. Agent: Emma Paterson; Aitken Alexander

Narrator Anna-Maria Nabirye's warm, rhythmic voice embraces listeners from the first rush of words in this Booker Award-winning kaleidoscope of a novel about a group of interconnected black women in England from the 1980s to today. A playwright for whom being black and lesbian is important; her straight daughter, who doesn't see what the fuss is; a friend who's jaded after years of teaching in London schools; one of her students who survived gang rape to become a hotshot banker; the banker's mother who works as a cleaner. And so many more. All fascinating from the moment Nabirye grabs a proverbial hand and pulls you onto the merry-go-round of personalities and stories. Funny, sad, gripping, thought-provoking stories told with pacing and characterizations you'll long remember. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine