Blonde Roots

Blonde Roots is a prose novel written by British-Nigerian author Bernardine Evaristo. Published by Penguin UK in 2009 and Penguin USA in 2010,[1] this satirical novel reverts notions of transatlantic slavery, placing Africans as masters of European slaves. It 2009, it was the Orange Prize Youth Panel Choice[2] and the Big Red Read Award.[3]

Blonde Roots
AuthorBernardine Evaristo
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHamish Hamilton/Penguin (UK) & Riverhead/Penguin (USA)
Publication date
April 2009 (UK) January 2010 (US)
Media typePrint (Paperback)
ISBN978-0141031521
Followed bySoul Tourists 

Reception

Reviews

Evaristo has been praised for her historical approach within Blonde Roots. In the UK, The Independent declared, ‘In her new novel, Bernardine Evaristo, never one to shrink from an experiment, has taken her boldest step to date and turned the whole thing on its head… One of the best things about this book is its bittersweet, riotous humour…Running through these pages is not just a feisty, hyperactive imagination asking ‘’what if”, but the unhealed African heart with the question, ‘‘how does it feel?”. This is a powerful gesture of thematic ownership by one of the UK’s most unusual and challenging writers.’[4] Meanwhile, the Publisher's Weekly in the US stated, ‘British novelist Evaristo delivers an astonishing, uncomfortable and beautiful alternative history that goes back several centuries to flip the slave trade…Evaristo’s intellectually rigorous narrative constantly surprises..This difficult and provocative book is a conversation sparker.' [5]

Honours and awards

Publication information
  • Blonde Roots (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, 2008; Riverhead/Penguin, USA, 2009, ISBN 978-0141031521)

References
  1. Evaristo, Bernardine. "Blonde Roots". Penguin Books website. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  2. Flood, Alison (3 June 2009). "Bernardine Evaristo wins 'alternative' Orange prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  3. "Bernardine Evaristo biography". British Council website. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  4. Evans, Diana. "Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo". The Independent. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  5. "Fiction Book Review: Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo". Publishers Weekly website. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  6. "Bernardine Evaristo - Casa della poesia" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  7. "Teenage picks: Six teenagers set to judge Orange Prize alongside the regular panel". The Independent. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  8. "New Writers". Women's Prize for Fiction. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
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