The Emperor's Babe

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, The Emperor's Babe is a "glittering fiction" with a "heroine of ancient times for the modern age" (the Times). Contains mature themes.