Mr Loverman: From the Booker prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

by Bernardine Evaristo

Treat a loved one to this joyful, big-hearted read from Booker Prize-winning novelist Bernardine Evaristo...

'[Mr Loverman is] Brokeback Mountain with ackee and saltfish and old people' Dawn French

WINNER OF THE JERWOOD FICTION UNCOVERED PRIZE 2014 and FERRO GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBT FICTION 2015

Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he's lived in Hackney since the sixties. A flamboyant, wise-cracking local character with a dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for quoting Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father and grandfather - but he is also secretly homosexual, lovers with his great childhood friend, Morris.

His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away?

Mr Loverman is a ground-breaking exploration of Britain's older Caribbean community, which explodes cultural myths and fallacies and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.

• ISBN10: 0241145783
• ISBN13: 9780241145784
• Publish Date: 29 August 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Make a wager on how soon I’ll read this one again. (Soon.) Every character is flawed and fantastic and I love them all.

[clementine]

This is my second book by Bernardine Evaristo devoured in a rather short time frame. There is something very special about her writing. She concocts such believable, flawed characters, giving them authentic voices and experiences. From what I can tell, Evaristo is a straight woman, married to a man, but her treatment of LGBTQ+ characters is so compassionate and insightful that I was sure she was a part of the community while reading her recent (and delightful) Booker winner. Barry is such a fantastic character - self-assured yet insecure, outwardly sexist yet tender towards many women in his life. This book is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, with a very satisfying ending.