Girl, Woman, Other

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Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo: Shirley

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Shirley

BBC Radio 4 - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, Shirley

Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize-winning novel. Read by Pippa Bennett-Warner.

Shirley struggles as a teacher in a deprived London school where she and a fellow staff member Penelope come to loggerheads over pupil standards.

‘Girl Woman Other’ is a wonderfully vivid portrayal of a group of interconnecting characters – mostly women, black and British – that provides a picture of contemporary Britain and looks back at the impact of Britain’s involvement in the colonial history of Africa and the Caribbean. 

Amma is a playwright, now in her fifties, whose new play ‘The Last Amazon of Dahomey’ is being premiered at The National Theatre in London. In attendance are her daughter Yazz and her old friends the rebellious Dominique and Shirley, a jaded teacher who has struggled for decades working in a funding-deprived London school. Carole is one of Shirley’s past students who almost threw away a bright future by mixing with wayward friends. Carole’s mother Bummi is a cleaner for a wealthy Camberwell lady and worries about her daughter’s lack of identity despite her obvious achievements. Penelope is a colleague of Shirley’s and Winsome is Shirley’s mother. La Tisha is a supermarket supervisor and Megan, who identifies as gender free, has changed their name to Morgan. Morgan is very close with their great grandmother Hattie. Her mother Grace was raised in a home for girls before going to work as a maid. She eventually met and married Joseph Ryendale and became the mistress of his family farm, which their daughter Hattie eventually inherits.

This is a wonderfully hopeful story whereby everyone’s story passes on to another and takes us on a glorious journey through the lives of these very different, yet amazing people.

Writer ….. Bernardine Evaristo
Abridger ….. Patricia Cumper
Reader ….. Pippa Bennett-Warner
Producer ….. Celia de Wolff

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2019 Booker Prize-winning novel that follows the lives of twelve extraordinary characters.

Bernardine Evaristo's 2019 Booker Prize-winning novel that follows the lives of twelve extraordinary characters. Abridged by Patricia Cumper and read by Pippa Bennett-Warner.

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