Description
A groundbreaking, hilarious novel about two elder gay Caribbean men coming to terms with being closeted in a changing world.
—Winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction
“Evaristo’s confident control of the language, her vibrant use of humor, rhythm and poetry, and the realistic mix of Caribbean patois with both street and the Queen’s English . . . fix characters in the reader’s mind.” —New York Times Sunday Book Review
“As a writer at the Guardian once proclaimed, if you don’t know Evaristo’s work, you should . . . the novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men . . . and Evaristo’s writing is both intelligible and compelling.” —Library Journal, Starred Review
Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he’s lived in Hackney, London, for years. A flamboyant, wise-cracking character with a dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father, grandfather—and also secretly gay, lovers with his 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? With an abundance of laugh-out-loud humor and wit, Mr. Loverman explodes cultural myths and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.
About the Author
BERNARDINE EVARISTO has been hailed as one of Britain’s most exciting and original authors. Her books have been chosen as Books of the Year nine times by British newspapers. In 2004 she was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2006 of the Royal Society of Arts. She has written drama for theater and BBC Radios 4 and 3, collaborated on a multimedia performance with the musicians Joanna MacGregor and Andy Sheppard for the City of London Festival. Based in London, England, she frequently tours worldwide. She is the author of the novel Mr. Loverman.
Praise For…
The writing is poetic, the characters are realistic and all sides are well portrayed.
— Huffington Post
Evaristo crafts a colorful look at a unique character confronting social normativity with a well-tuned voice and a resonant humanity.
— Publishers Weekly
In this vibrant novel, Evaristo draws wonderful character portraits of complex individuals as well as the West Indian immigrant culture in Britain.
— Booklist
Although Evaristo has always been an innovative stylist, her latest novel, the critically acclaimed, award-winning smash, Mr. Loverman, is her chef d’oeuvre; a masterful dissection of the life of a 74-year-old, British-Caribbean gay man.
— Huffington Post, feature on Bernardine Evaristo