GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER

The novel shares the stories of 12 different lives which at times intersect and won the 2019 Booker Prize and its author, Bernardine Evaristo who became the first black woman to receive the award. The book starts on opening night at the National Theatre where Amma anticipates the debut of her new play, 'The Last Amazon of Dahomey' which is based around the life of a Dahomey Amazon, an all-female military regiment in what is today Benin, which existed from 1600s until late 1800s. Spend time with Carole who lives with her Nigerian-born mother Bummi in a south London flat and excels in school to become a successful banker, with the help of her teacher Shirley King. A couple visits Hattie on her farm which has been in her family for 200 years and later Hattie will face revelations over how her family came to make their fortune and buy the farm. The book transports the reader, whether to Carole's flat in London, Bummi's youth in Lagos, life in Plymouth, a commune on the Spirit Moon ranch in America and the life of three girls at university. The story is one of intergenerational experiences, moving from the 1960s to the UK we are familiar with today. Evaristo focuses on people who are often "othered" by society and she told the Guardian she wrote the book as she was frustrated that black British women weren't visible in literature. The form is based on fusion fiction (the absence of full stops and the use of long sentences) which allows the reader's imagination to flow with each character's thoughts. Paperback, 454pp.