Small Country
Gaël Faye author Sarah Ardizzone translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:6th Jun '19
Should be back in stock very soon
An international sensation (sold in thirty territories to date), this debut from a French-Rwandan ex-investment banker turned hip hop artist is a beautiful but harrowing coming-of-age tale
An international sensation, Small Country is a beautiful but harrowing tale of coming-of-age in the face of civil war.
'A luminous debut novel…Faye dramatises the terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war' Guardian
Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expat neighbourhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister, Ana, is something close to paradise. These are happy, carefree days spent with his friends sneaking cigarettes and stealing mangoes, swimming in the lake and riding bikes in the streets they have turned into their kingdom. But dark clouds are gathering over this small country, and soon their peaceful idyll will shatter when Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda are brutally hit by war.
‘Unforgettable… Gaël Faye’s talent is breathtaking’ Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers
an excellent novel, a model of restraint and quiet literary sophistication * Sunday Times *
[A] luminous debut novel… This is a book that demanded to be written... With a light touch, Faye dramatisesthe terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war -- Nadifa Mohamed * Guardian *
An evocative portrait of what it means to lose one’s freedom and innocence. Gaël Faye’s literary powers lie in his unbridled honesty and his effortless prose. He is a writer of great promise and grace -- Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen
Unforgettable… Gaël Faye’s talent is breathtaking; no country that can give the world a writer like him should ever be called small -- Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers
as beautiful as it is painful... It's easy to see why it set the French literary scene alight. This is one you won't be abandoning in the hotel library when you leave. -- Sam Baker * The Pool *
a masterpiece in bringing home the first-hand realities of war... It's heart-wrenching and beautiful and distressingly authentic. Everyone should read it. * The Pool *
This beautiful coming-of-age novel conveys a heart-rending desire for peace and harmony. It sets forth a vision of the world that is poetic rather than political, where horror is displaced by wonder. * Le Figaro *
A magnificent book… a master-stroke of a first novel * Le Parisien *
Precise and potent...deeply affecting... The juxtaposition of everyday growing pains and the fallout from atrocities is heightened by Faye's lovely prose, which builds a heartrending portrait of the end of childhood * Publishers Weekly *
Gaël Faye’s words are a mix of such precision, gentleness and gravitas that finishing this first novel feels like coming out of a heartrending embrace. * Le Point *
ISBN: 9781784705930
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 12mm
Weight: 138g
192 pages