Mr. Loverman - by Bernardine Evaristo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

From the Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, which has sold over 250,000 copies in Grove's editions, a groundbreaking, hilarious novel set in London following two older gay Caribbean men reckoning with being closeted in a rapidly changing world

"Bernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life."--Ali Smith

One of Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo's most highly celebrated novels, Mr. Loverman follows a man named Barrington Jedidiah Walker, who is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he has lived in Hackney, London, for years. Flamboyant and wise-cracking, with dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father, grandfather―and also secretly gay, lovers with his childhood friend, Morris.

Barry's deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women rather than men. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barry wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away? With the wit and humanity that characterized Girl, Woman, Other, Mr. Loverman explodes cultural myths and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.

Review Quotes

Praise for Mr. Loverman:

Winner of the Ferro Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction
Winner of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize

"[Mr. Loverman is] Brokeback Mountain with ackee and saltfish and old people."--Dawn French

"This rip-roaring, full-bodied riff on sex, secrecy and family is Bernardine Evaristo's seventh book. If you don't yet know her work, you should--she says things about modern Britain that no one else does."--The Guardian

"Heartbreaking, yet witty, this is a story that also needed to be told."--Observer, "Book of the Year"

"A brilliant study of great characters in modern London. As such―as Mr. Barrington Walker Esq himself might have acknowledged―it is very clever indeed."―Independent on Sunday

"Dazzling, gorgeously textured . . . Mr. Loverman is a powerful, morally rigorous and joyful novel and Bernardine Evaristo is a writer at the height of her imaginative powers."―Huffington Post

"This novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men."―Publishers Weekly, starred review

"In this vibrant novel, Evaristo draws wonderful character portraits of complex individuals as well as the West Indian immigrant culture in Britain."―Booklist

"Funny, brave . . . I loved Mr. Loverman . . . Tender, even trailblazing."―The Spectator

"Evaristo has a lot going on in this unusual urban romance, but beneath her careful study of race and sexuality is a beautiful love story. Not many writers could have two old men having sexual intercourse in a bedsit to a soundtrack of Shabba Ranks's Mr. Loverman and save it from bad taste, much less make it sublime. But the hero of this book, and his canny creator, make everything taste just fine."―Telegraph

Praise for Manifesto:

Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, Kirkus Reviews (Nonfiction), and Washington Independent Review of Books
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"The sturdy, exuberant memoir of a writer who, in pushing herself, also pushed an entire field . . . a behind-the-scenes companion text that goes down smoothly . . . Manifesto offers an irresistibly paradoxical invitation to writers: Create a literature of those left behind, by letting your heart run free."--Quiara Alegría Hudes, New York Times Book Review

"Manifesto, which could otherwise be called Portrait of the Artist as a Young Black Woman, is a much needed accounting of a Black woman's coming of age through the journey of creating a profoundly authentic creative life . . . Evaristo's life as detailed in Manifesto is the story of dreams made real through an unshakeable belief in the self despite the naysaying noise of the world . . . Manifesto revels in the stories behind Evaristo's writing--the formation of each book as well as the formation of the artist engaged in the act of creation . . . A nonfiction bildungsroman that is a towering monument to the creative life of Black women."--Hope Wabuke, NPR

"In a new memoir, [Evaristo] describes how she was long excluded from the halls of literary power, and how she finally broke in . . . She mixes humor with the most difficult of subjects--slavery, prejudice, trauma--and happily combines eras and languages."--Anna Russell, New Yorker

"Reimagines memoir as a manual for creativity, activism, and reinvention."--Seattle Times

"Evaristo's long, persistent journey to becoming a lauded novelist is inspiring, especially for any writer who's struggled to get a story published . . . In Manifesto, Evaristo takes her own advice, producing a thoughtful, vivid, often funny work of nonfiction that refuses to play it safe."--BookPage

"Part memoir and part meditation on determination, creativity, and activism . . . A beautiful ode to determination and daring and an intimate look at one of our finest writers."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"What a fascinating life Evaristo has led . . . An inspiring yet unassuming memoir from a woman of indomitable creative energy."--Booklist (starred review)

"In lithe prose, [Evaristo] tackles her complicated relationship with sexuality, reminisces on hustling her early books into readers' hands and finding 'a room of my own' in her writing later in life, and dispenses advice on cultivating creativity and intergenerational consciousness . . . Readers will find much to ruminate over in this meditation on the power of art and persistence."--Publishers Weekly

"Fans of Evaristo's work will discover in Manifesto the passionate core of this unstoppable force in 21st-century literature . . . Evaristo's personal manifesto, summarized at the end of this remarkable book, is ripe with inspiration for those who come after her, her advice timeless and applicable to readers at every stage of their artistic endeavors . . . A Booker Prize-winning British author's soulful memoir captures the essence of her creativity and offers inspirational guidance to emerging writers."--Shelf Awareness

"If 'perseverance is genius in disguise, ' then Bernardine Evaristo is a 22-carat gold, diamond-encrusted genius. She is the patron saint of persistence and proves it with her ninth book, Manifesto."--Kitty Kelley, Washington Independent Review of Books

"The most striking feature of this moving and enjoyable book is [Evaristo's] fearless openness. When the publishing world looked closed to her she prised it open with her daring fiction."―Sunday Times

"A rallying cry . . . Manifesto combines the personal with the practical to powerful effect . . . Unconventional as it may be, the format works: the autobiographical parts of the book serve as vivid lessons about the power of change, growth and self-confidence . . . Entertaining as well as instructive."--Guardian

"Lively and important . . . [Evaristo] is unfailingly generous in delineating how she became herself . . . She is determined not to pull up the ladder behind her and is also, often wickedly funny . . . How I wish when I was 18 that someone--if not necessarily my school--had thrust Manifesto into my hands."--Evening Standard

"Shimmers with unfailing self-belief and a strong vein of humility . . . Manifesto's subtitle is 'On Never Giving Up.' A better advert for this maxim you could not find."--Susie Boyt, Spectator

Praise for Girl, Woman, Other:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019
Named One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2019
Named Roxane Gay's Favorite Book of 2019
Named Author of the Year by the British Book Awards
Winner of the Indie Book Award for Fiction (UK) and the British Fiction Book of the Year Award
Named an Amazon Best Book of the Year
Named a Best Book of the Year by the New Yorker, Washington Post, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Vogue, and many others

"Girl, Woman, Other received half a Booker Prize, but it deserves all the glory . . . A breathtaking symphony of Black women's voices, a clear-eyed survey of contemporary challenges that's nevertheless wonderfully life-affirming . . . Together, all these women present a cross-section of Britain that feels godlike in its scope and insight."--Ron Charles, Washington Post

"The ambition of this novel, the inventive structure and syntax, the grand scope, all make for the most absorbing book I read all year. The characters are so richly drawn, so intimately known by Evaristo, and so perfectly rendered on the page. This novel is a master class in storytelling. It is absolutely unforgettable. When I turned the final page, I felt the ache of having to leave the world Evaristo created but I also felt the excitement of getting to read the book all over again. It should have won the Booker alone. It deserves all the awards and then some."--Roxane Gay, Gay Magazine

"A big, busy novel with a large root system . . . Evaristo has a gift for appraising the lives of her characters with sympathy and grace while gently skewering some of their pretensions . . . Evaristo's lines are long, like Walt Whitman's or Allen Ginsberg's, and there are no periods at the ends of them. There's a looseness to her tone that gives this novel its buoyancy. Evaristo's wit helps too."--Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Exuberant, capacious, and engaging . . . Complex, astute, painful, funny, enlightening, and most of all enjoyable . . . An elegant and compulsively readable account of the Black women of England . . . Plumbing the many dimensions of her characters' lives, Evaristo revels in universals and singularities alike . . . The final scene triumphantly pulls together the novel's dominant themes. I laughed, I cried, I turned the last page fully satisfied."--Rebecca Steinitz, Boston Globe

"A sprawling book, but too intimate to be considered an epic . . . Each of these characters--and indeed the doting spouses, or abusive girlfriends, or foul-mouthed school chums, or lecherous preachers, or the rest of the human parade--feels specific, and vibrant, and not quite complete, insofar as the best fictional characters remain as elusive and surprising as real people are. This is a feat; the whole book is . . . Evaristo is a gifted portraitist, and you marvel at both the people she conjures and the unexpected way she reveals them to you . . . Yes, prizes are silly. But sometimes they're deserved."--Rumaan Alam, New Republic

"[Girl, Woman, Other is] about almost everything. Politics, parenthood, sexuality, racism and colorism, immigration, domestic violence, infidelity, friendship, love, all the ways we misunderstand each other, the way life surprises us with its unfolding. This is a partial list . . . Bernardine is here to turn on the lights, give you your money's worth, and let you decide for yourself."--Marion Winik, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Deserves every accolade, and more . . . A creative and technical marvel--a sprawling, unpunctuated, and improbably joyful account of twelve interconnected characters in modern-day Britain . . . A book so bursting with wit, empathy, and insight, its clear-eyed reflections on race and feminism hardly ever feel like polemics; there's too much pure, vivid life on every page."--Entertainment Weekly

"Girl, Woman, Other changed my thinking."--Tom Stoppard, Times Literary Supplement

"Not just one of my favorite books of this year, but one of the most insightful books I've ever had the pleasure of reading . . . Inspired."--Nicola Sturgeon, Guardian

"Magnificent . . . As she creates a space for immigrants and the children of immigrants to tell their stories, Evaristo explores a range of topics both contemporary and timeless. There is room for everyone to find a home in this extraordinary novel. Beautiful and necessary."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Evaristo beguiles with her exceptional depictions of a range of experiences of Black British women . . . A stunning powerhouse of vibrant characters and heartbreaks."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Courageous . . . Hearing from mothers and their children, teachers and their students across generations, readers might expect that they'll get to see just what these characters can't know about one another, but they won't imagine the dazzling specificities nor the unspooling dramas; they will be entertained, educated, and riveted."--Booklist (starred review)

"Girl, Woman, Other, the intermingling stories of generations of Black British women told in a gloriously rich and readable free verse, will surely be seen as a landmark in British fiction."--Guardian

"In Girl, Woman, Other, Evaristo adopts an even bigger canvas, with a sparkling new novel of interconnected stories . . . In Evaristo's eighth book she continues to expand and enhance our literary canon. If you want to understand modern day Britain, this is the writer to read."--New Statesman

"Brims with vitality . . . The form [Evaristo] chooses here is breezily dismissive of convention. The flow of this prose-poetry hybrid feels absolutely right, with the pace and layout of words matched to the lilt and intonation of the characters' voices . . . She captures the shared experience that make us, as she puts it in her dedication, 'members of the human family.'"--Financial Times

"The voices of Black women come to the fore in a swirl of interrelated stories that cover the past century of British life. Wide-ranging, witty and wise, it's a book that does new things with the novel form."--Sunday Times

"This masterful novel is a choral love song to Black womanhood."--Elle (UK)

About the Author

BERNARDINE EVARISTO is the 2019 winner of the Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other, which was a global bestseller and a winner and finalist for many awards including the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Dublin Literary Award. Evaristo is the author of nine other books that explore aspects of the African diaspora. Her writing spans verse fiction, short fiction, poetry, essays, literary criticism, and drama. Evaristo is President of the Royal Society of Literature, Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London, and an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. She received an OBE in 2020, and lives in London with her husband. Her most recent book is Manifesto: On Never Giving Up.