shapes of the coming day
léonora miano
(Plon, 275 pages, 2006)
Translation rights sold in Sweden, Italy , Brasil , China, Portugal.
Prix Goncourt des Lycéens 2006
Long-listed for prix Goncourt 2006
✓A gripping tale of resilience and hope in the face of war and moral collapse.
✓ A powerful reflection on Africa’s struggles and the fight to build a future without a past.
✓ An unforgettable journey through the eyes of a child.
“… the poetic force of her style and the restraining power of her words firmly define the contours of a talent in the making”. —Le Monde
The initiatory journey of a little girl who continues to believe in the future of an Africa that no longer knows how to love its children.
War has ravaged Mboasu, this imaginary African state that is only too true to life, bleeding the country dry. Families no longer able to care for their children accuse them of being the source of misfortune and chase them from home.
And so little Musango becomes a street kid. Kidnapped, then sold by traffickers in child trade, she is sequestered by pimps who use the activities of a religious sect to mask their unspeakable commerce in flesh. Determined to return to her mother, Musango escapes, fleeing across a country gone mad, victim of unprecedented moral and material poverty. All along her arduous journey, she talks to her mother, who symbolizes an Africa that has lost its bearings. Musango embodies the generation of those who must build without past references. Will her encounter with the young Mbalé signal a new dawn for the entire continent?
About the author :
Novelist, playwright and essayist, Léonora Miano was born in Douala, in Cameroon. She is considered one of the major voices of African literature and is the author of some twenty books. Her awards include the Prix Goncourt des lycéens in 2006 for Contours du jour qui vient (Pion), the Prix Seligmann contre le racisme in 2012 for Ecrits pour la parole (L'Arche), the Prix Femina and the Grand Prix du Roman Métis in 2013 for La Saison de l'ombre (Grasset, published by Seagull Books in 2018 under the title Season of the Shadow ). At Seuil, she published L'Opposé de la blancheur. Réflexions sur le problème blanc (2023).