NOVEL

A white colonizer in Africa in the 19th century and a black boy, a century later, in Europe, connected by one continent, Africa.

The story starts with a young child living in Amsterdam. His mother left him to experience the utopia of a socialist revolution in one of those African states in perpetual prey to more or less bloody revolutions. His father, a communist militant, ultra-Marxist-Leninist, is responsible for his education. So, here is a kid indoctrinated by a father who became "Comrade-Papa". While the child is entrusted to the hands of his grandmother charged with his deindoctrination, a century earlier a young French man decides to embark on the African colonial adventure. Despite his absolute ignorance of military art, he soon becomes one of those who survived dysenterie, yellow fever and venomous snakes that decimated the adventurous Westerners. His secret will be to learn the local language and its turnings so uncommon to Europeans. It will become the inevitable link between two cultures, one of which seeks with impunity to abuse the naivety and generosity of the other.

Gauz confirms with this second novel his talent as a storyteller and his ability to plunge us into the heart of the extraordinary.

AWARDS/SHORTLISTED

• Winner of the Prix Virilo 2018
• Winner of the Prix Ivoire 2018
• Shorlisted for the Prix littéraire "Le Monde"
• 2018 Winner of Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noire
• Winner of the Prix Ethiophile 2019