Emperor's Babe

Lots of fun . . . like an episode of <i>Sex and the City</i> written by Ovid.--<i>Kirkus Reviews</i> <p/> Bernardine Evaristo's tale of forbidden love in bustling third-century London is an intoxicating cocktail of poetry history and fiction. Feisty precocious Zuleika a restless teenage bride of a rich Roman businessman craves passion and excitement. She wanders through his villa bored or sneaks out to see her old friends seeking an outlet for her creativity. Then she begins an affair with the emperor Septimus Severus remembered to history as the African Emperor and she knows her life will never be the same. Streetwise seductive and lyrical <i>The Emperor's Babe</i> is a glittering fiction with a heroine of ancient times for the modern age (<i>The Times</i>). <p/> The adventures of a sassy sexy girl about town . . . Funny engaging and a daring evocation of the possible genesis of black British history.--<i>The Independent on Sunday</i> <p/> Smart imaginative and readable . . . A rich farrago of historical fact and outrageous fancy.--<i>The New York Times Book Review</i> <p/> Zuleika leads us on a riotous racy whirl through Roman Londinium--while displaying her lyric gift throughout and at last her heartbreak to the core and her own embrace of doom. . . . a captivating tale in verse.--Robert Fagles