Tower and Town, September 2020

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Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo

Bernadine Evaristo was Joint Winner of this year’s Booker Prize.

Bernadine Evaristo was coming to the Literature Festival this year as our Golding Speaker. She first came to the LitFest in 2013 with her book Mr Loverman. Shortly after becoming joint winner of the Booker Prize last Autumn, she accepted our invitation to come back with her prize winning book Girl, Woman, Other.

The story quickly pulls you into the life of Amma and the lives of 11 others (mostly black women) as they navigate life in different eras. Each chapter tells the tale of one of these vivid characters while their lives also intertwine in numerous ways – as friends, relations or chance acquaintances. You encounter one, then their child, their mother, their friend, their school teacher or work colleague.

As their lives are described, Evaristo also explores (at times in some depth) issues which are recognised by many of us – single parenthood, being a teenager, being old or divorced, an unloved orphan, being controlled, lesbianism and other sexual relationships.

The book starts with Amma at the opening of her play at the National Theatre. She has finally made it! The penultimate chapter describes many of the characters present at the party after. There is a lovely final twist at the end in the Epilogue.

When asked about her motives for writing this book, Evaristo said she was frustrated that black women weren’t visible in literature. She wanted to explore their relationships and lives from being teenagers to those in their 90s.

The book is written in a hybrid of poetry and prose which looks beautiful on the page and is beautiful to read. There is a lightness to it, and there is humour.

The annual Golding Speaker event highlights Marlborough’s connections to the Nobel Laureate and Booker Prize winner William Golding, and is sponsored by William Golding Limited. Golding grew up in Marlborough in a house on The Green. His father was a science teacher at Marlborough Grammar School, where William and his younger brother were pupils.

Virginia Reekie