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Small Country

byGaël Faye, Sarah Ardizzone (Translator)

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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

About Gaël Faye

Gaël Faye was born in 1982 in Burundi to a French father and Rwandan mother. In 1995, after the outbreak of the civil war and the Rwandan genocide, the family moved to France. An author, songwriter and hip-hop artist, he released his first solo album, Pili Pili sur un croissant au beurre, in 2013.


His first novel, Small Country, was a bestseller in France, and has been awarded numerous literary prizes, among them the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, and is being published in thirty countries worldwide. His second novel, Jacaranda, won the Prix Renaudot and Choix Goncourt in France.
Details
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • ISBN: 9781784705930
  • Length: 192 pages
  • Dimensions: 197mm x 13mm x 130mm
  • Weight: 140g
  • Price: £9.99
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