Small Country

The magnificent debut novel of the young musician Gaël Faye found itself nominated for almost all of the most prestigious French awards, including the Goncourt Prize (final round), and received four awards at once, including the Goncourt Prize for high-school students. In the spirit of Emir Kusturica’s films, the book tells of a lost country of childhood, sunk in military madness. In the ten-year-old hero of “Little Country,” as well as for Gaël Faye himself, father is French and mother is a refugee from Rwanda. They live in Burundi, in a prosperous capital district. The boy goes to a French school, reads a lot, and joyfully spends time with friends outside. He tries not to notice his parents’ quarrels and doesn’t understand what his beautiful mother is so afraid of, begging her husband to urgently take the family to France. Meanwhile, civil war is brewing in the country, and a monstrous genocide is being prepared in neighboring Rwanda.

This poignant and poetic novel has been translated into 30 languages.