Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE 2021 RENAUDOT PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2022 STREGA EUROPEAN PRIZE
From acclaimed author Am lie Nothomb, a gentle homage to the man who gave her life.
The Republic of the Congo, 1964. A young man is facing a firing squad, preparing for his last moment on Earth. He reflects on his childhood with a distant mother, and the moments which have led to him finding himself staring death in the face.
Patrick Nothomb is a young diplomat, aged 28, when he is taken hostage with thousands of others in Stanleyville (now Kisangani) by rebels. Over the course of four months, Nothomb has negotiated with his captors each and every day, saving the lives of 1,500 citizens.
Inspired by the life of her father, who died at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Am lie Nothomb slips into his shoes to give voice to his story.
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE 2021 RENAUDOT PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2022 STREGA EUROPEAN PRIZE
A moving fictionalized account of Nothomb's own father, who died of Covid related symptoms in early 2020, this is the acclaimed author's most personal and heartfelt novel.
The Republic of the Congo, 1964. A young man faces a firing squad, preparing for his last moment on Earth. He is known as a complex and complicated man whose childhood left him hungry for affection and attention and who transformed his emotional wounds into a brilliant career as a diplomat and a negotiator. Now he finds himself negotiating for his own life, together with the lives of 1,500 Congolese citizens.
Inspired by the life of her father and by her lifelong effort to understand him, Am lie Nothomb's new novel is about life-and-death decisions, about reckoning with one's past, reconciling with one's parents, and about the hard, often humorous work of determining one's own path.
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE 2021 RENAUDOT PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2022 STREGA EUROPEAN PRIZE
A WORLD LITERATURE TODAY NOTABLE BOOK 2023
A moving fictionalized account of Nothomb's own father, who died of Covid related symptoms in early 2020, this is the acclaimed author's most personal and heartfelt novel.
The Republic of the Congo, 1964. A young man faces a firing squad, preparing for his last moment on Earth. He is known as a complex and complicated man whose childhood left him hungry for affection and attention and who transformed his emotional wounds into a brilliant career as a diplomat and a negotiator. Now he finds himself negotiating for his own life, together with the lives of 1,500 Congolese citizens.
Inspired by the life of her father and by her lifelong effort to understand him, Am lie Nothomb's new novel is about life-and-death decisions, about reckoning with one's past, reconciling with one's parents, and about the hard, often humorous work of determining one's own path.