August 2021
The Tree or the House
by Azouz Begag
Returning to their native Algeria, two brothers rediscover their ancestral home in a country undergoing a major democratic revolution.An incarnated journey of initiation, full of tears and laughter. After years of absence and the death of their mother, two brothers, Azouz the writer and Samy the arboriculturist, both living in Lyon and of French as well as of Algerian nationality, return to Sétif in Algeria wanting to flower their parents’ grave and to check on their ancestral home. While Samy is reluctant to set foot in a town he no longer has any ties to, Azouz is impatient to witness the democratic revolution that the country is undergoing. But above all, he hopes to reunite with Ryme, the woman he has loved forever and who is the umbilical cord linking him to the earth of his ancestors. But when they arrive in Sétif, the once familiar is now as strange to them as they are to the local people, who only see them as binationals, as “bis”. As for Ryme, love for freedom has given her the same wings it has given to all Algerians. Will she have waited for Azouz? Only the beautiful tree planted in front of the house by their father 50 years ago is still in the same place. But its roots have grown so large and deep that they are menacing its very foundation. The two brothers have to face a dilemma: keep the tree or keep the house.In this novel deeply infused with tenderness and humanity as well as with an irresistible sense of humor, Azouz Begag confronts the nostalgia of childhood with the reality of a country in turmoil resolutely turned towards the future.
