Blonde Roots

The most provocative debut novel of the year, "a dizzying satire" (The New Yorker) that "boldly turns history on its head" (Elle). What is the history of the transatlantic slave trade had been reversed and Africans has enslaved Europeans? How would that have changed the ways that people justified their inhuman behavior? How would it inform our cultural attitudes and the insidious racism that still lingers today? We see this tragicomic world turned upside down through the eyes of Doris, an Englishwoman enslaved and taken to the New World, movingly recounting experiences of tremendous hardship and the dreams of the people she has left behind, all while journeying toward an escape into freedom. A poignant and dramatic story grounded in provocative ideas, Blonde Rootsis a genuinely original, profoundly imaginative novel.

Bernardine Evaristo is the award-winning author of three critically acclaimed novels-in-verse. She's co-edited Granta's New Writing 15, and has written for a wide variety of media, including The Guardian, The Times (London), BOMB magazine, and the BBC. The recipient of several awards, most recently a NESTA Fellowship Award, Evaristo lives in London.