Quotes from Bernardine Evaristo

Lennox is more like Clovis than she likes to think, physically and temperamentally Winsome reckons this is why Shirley chose him, subconsciously he was familiar to her Maybe that's why Winsome herself took to her son-in-law A younger, sexier version of the man she married

who doesn't know what she wants in the long term so takes short-term temping contracts, saves, goes off backpacking like a teenager, returns to England full of stories but her career hasn't moved on

when things were good, Dominique felt the headiness of a love that really might last for ever when they weren't, she wondered what she was doing with someone who wanted to micro-manage her entire life, including her mind

the force of her presence had the effect of diminishing everyone else's

Poling says your feet they will crack and the germs they will have the field day, Hattie So she obliges, even though the body makes its own oil, if you allow the pores to breathe Although try telling that to the women in her family who slather themselves in unguents and other toxic substances in the name of beauty Then wonder why they get cancer

it's one of the secrets of her long-lasting mobility, keeping her toes spread and feet grounded, same as all the other beasts of nature

She loved going to bed when the sheets had just been changed and inhaling the outside wind and sun and rain on them

in any case, ageing is nothing to be ashamed of especially when the entire human race is in it together

Roland was one of the lucky hedonists to survive El Diablo which swooped in to kill so many of them So many deaths ruined any sense of nostalgia, sadly, remembering the past also meant Remembering the Dead

Amma considered thanking Nzinga for informing her she was mentally enslaved, and told her that African peoples were referred to as black long after the word made its appearance in the English language, so it makes no sense to retroactively impose racist connotations on to its everyday usage, and if you do, you're going to drive yourself mad and, I'm sorry to say, everyone else with you

She and Amma have only polished off two bottles of red and the rest of the coke, which pleasantly counteracted the inebriation game effect of the drink Best of both worlds, drink as much as you like and remain coherent enough for a good chinwag

Yazz wondered if sharing the same corridor in halls and being one of the few brown girls on a white campus was really enough to keep the Unfunkwithables together post-university, or even into their second year, come to think of it

Am a is walking along the promenade of the waterway that bisects her city, a few early morning barges cruise slowly by. This is not about feeling something or about speaking words this is about being together.

she realized that knowing someone comes from money isn't the same as witnessing the extent of it in close proximity

Amma was shorter, with African hips and thighs perfect slave girl material one director told her when she walked into an audition for a play about Emancipation whereupon she walked right back out again

although sometimes it seems that she alone among her friends wants to celebrate getting older because it's such a privilege to not die prematurely, she tells them as the night draws in around her kitchen table in her cosy terraced house in Brixton

we are all part of a continuum, repeat after me, the future is in the past and the past is in the present

I've fallen in love properly for the first time in my life with the most wonderful woman I've ever met, who desires me from a position of inner strength, Amma, and it might sound odd but that's so new to me and darned sexy, like she can rip my clothes off whenever she wants to (which she does) and I feel helpless and dominated (which I like), whereas my previous lovers desired me from a position of weakness, of adoration, which just isn't interesting to me any more

her mission has begun – to make history fun and relevant because we need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to deepen our understanding of who we are as the human race, don't we, class?

Dominique guessed her own sexual preferences from puberty, wisely kept them to herself, unsure how her friends or family would react, not wanting to be a social outcast she tried boys a couple of times they enjoyed it she endured it

it's so crazy that the disgusting perma-tanned billionaire has set a new intellectual and moral low by being president of America and basically it all means that the older generation has RUINED EVERYTHING and her generation is doooooomed

Carole knows what drives people to such despair, knows what its like to appear normal but to feel herself swaying just one leap away from the amassed crowds on the platforms who carry enough hope in their hearts to stay alive swaying just one leap away from eternal peace

with the stretchmarks Bummi thought looked like art and felt like Braille

when Yazz talks about her unusual upbringing to people, the unworldly ones expect her to be emotionally damaged from it, like how can you not be when your mum's a polyamorous lesbian and your father's a gay narcissist (as she describes him), and you were shunted between both their homes and dumped with various godparents while your parents pursued their careers? this annoys Yazz who can't stand people saying anything negative about her parents that's her prerogative