The Emperor's Babe

Set in the bustling, brutal metropolis of Londinium in 211 AD, Bernardine Evaristo's 'The Emperor's Babe' plunges readers into the vibrant, often perilous world of Zuleika, a spirited Nubian teenager. Married off at the tender age of eleven to a wealthy, much older Roman senator, Zuleika, or 'Zeeks,' navigates her gilded cage with cunning and wit. She's a street-smart survivor, intimately familiar with the city's stark contrasts – from its opulent villas to its squalid slums, its diverse inhabitants spanning slave girls and audacious drag queens. Her extraordinary journey, told in Evaristo’s distinctive poetic prose, takes a dramatic turn when her beauty and charm catch the eye of the most powerful man in the world, the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. This unexpected liaison thrusts her into a dangerous game of power and survival at the heart of the empire, forcing her to confront her own identity and resilience in a world that is both ancient and startlingly modern. The novel masterfully blends historical detail with contemporary sensibilities, using a unique verse style to explore themes of race, gender, power, and freedom through the eyes of an unforgettable protagonist.