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Bernard and the Cloth Monkey

A collection of rediscovered works celebrating Black Britain curated by Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE SAGA PRIZE 1997: a literary award for trailblazing new Black British novelists

A shattering portrayal of family, guilt and unshakable bonds as a family's deepest secrets explosively unravel

When Anita finally returns home to London after a long absence, everything has changed.
Her father is dead, her mother is away, and she and her sister Beth are alone together for the first time in years.

They share a house. They share a family. They share a past.

Tentatively, they reach out to one another for connection, but the house echoes with words unspoken.

Dazzling and heart-breaking, Bernard and the Cloth Monkey is a searing portrait of family, a rebellion against silence and a testament to the human capacity for survival.

'A quietly outstanding work of fiction . . . an exemplary novel' Bernardine Evaristo

© Judith Bryan 1998 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological World Literature Fiction Suspense

Critic reviews

Bernard and the Cloth Monkey is the story of navigating adulthood with the weight of a marred and difficult childhood still straining familiar relationships . . . An important contribution to the literary landscape
[Bernard and the Cloth Monkey] crosses boundaries in what it's prepared to talk about, and it does that without melodrama or sensationalism . . . It's absolutely beautifully written. I was so drawn to the prose, to the rhythms of the prose (Jacqueline Roy)
A quietly outstanding work of fiction . . . an exemplary novel (Bernardine Evaristo)
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