Blurrier lines would be more interesting.Įvaristo began her career as a poet, and several of her previous novels were written in verse, including The Emperor's Babe, about a black Roman girl in third-century London. This works best when the ideas are submerged in action: too often, Evaristo gives her characters sharply inked, directly opposing opinions to bounce back and forth, as with a dinner-table discussion on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, or an argument about feminism in an adult education class. It's a fertile topic, and Evaristo plunges into a debate on everything from race, gender, sexuality and religion to the gentrification of multicultural London neighbourhoods. I did enjoy this book however and I cannot praise James Goode enough.A t 74, Barrington 'Barry' Walker, a Caribbean transplant to Stoke Newington in London with a church-going wife and two grown-up daughters, is 'still spruced up and sharp-suited with a rather manly swagger', still working 'a certain je ne sais whatsit.' He's also been having a secret affair with another elderly man, Morris de la Roux, since they were both teenagers in Antigua, and coming clean to his family is unthinkable. (I would urge anyone to go and read/listen to Dr Sowell on the subject.) I doubt I'd pick up anything else by the same author purely because her other works seem very right-on PC and frankly I'm more interested in the story. It was a shame to hear that piece of lazy victimhood in what was otherwise a good story. Dr Thomas Sowell would and has disagreed with that and given he has always had evidence to back up his claim, I'll believe him.

My only criticism was the trope of 'black fathers leave their children because of slavery'. The idea of different perspectives was a good one. The story was interesting and well-thought out. The delivery was fantastic and I'd definitely keep an eye out for more things by him. I loved the dry humour his delivery was spot-on. I can't attest to the quality of the Antiguan accent but the characters were all well-voiced/acted.

It's an excellent performance by James Goode.

I don't do romance novels, have no particular interest in niche writing (LGBTIAQ+, race-led etc etc) but I liked the premise and the sample was good.

Mr loverman bernardine evaristo review