Copyright © 2019 by Bernardine Evaristo
Cover artwork by Ali Campbell
Cover photograph © 2018 Neil Kenlock
(via Tate Images) and © Getty Images
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First published in 2019 by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK
Published simultaneously in Canada
Printed in the United States of America
First Grove Atlantic paperback edition: December 2019
ISBN 978-0-8021-5698-3
eISBN 978-0-8021-5699-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available for this title.
Black Cat
an imprint of Grove Atlantic
154 West 14th Street
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For the sisters & the sistas & the sistahs & the sistren & the women & the womxn & the wimmin & the womyn & our brethren & our bredrin & our brothers & our bruvs & our men & our mandem & the LGBTQI+ members of the human family
Contents
1
Amma
is walking along the promenade of the waterway that bisects her city, a few early morning barges cruise slowly by
to her left is the nautical-themed footbridge with its deck-like walkway and sailing mast pylons
to her right is the bend in the river as it heads east past Waterloo Bridge towards the dome of St Paul’s
she feels the sun begin to rise, the air still breezy before the city clogs up with heat and fumes
a violinist plays something suitably uplifting further along the promenade
Amma’s play, The Last Amazon of Dahomey, opens at the National tonight
she thinks back to when she started out in theatre
when she and her running mate, Dominique, developed a reputation for heckling shows that offended their political sensibilities
their powerfully trained actors’ voices projected from the back of the stalls before they made a quick getaway
they