The 1994 genocide of the Tutsi people devastated Rwanda in just 100 days. Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse’s searing debut novel explores how its aftermath affected three generations of one family. Immaculata survives the massacres in Butare by hiding in the basement of her Hutu neighbour’s bookshop. Her son, Bosco, joins the exiled rebel army, while her daughter, Blanche, escapes to France, meets her husband and settles in Bordeaux with their child, Stokely.
The novel is narrated from the perspectives of Blanche, Immaculata and Stokely and is a poignant meditation on the violence that ruptured so many lives. The women’s experiences, their struggle to come to terms with trauma and survivor’s guilt, are emblematic of the nation’s attempts to heal.
