Forty-year-old Norah leaves Paris, her family and her career as a lawyer to visit her father in Dakar. It is an uncomfortable reunion – she is asked to use her skills as a lawyer to get her brother out of prison – and ultimately the trip endangers her marriage and her relationship with her own daughter, and drives her to the very edge of madness.
Fanta, on the other hand, leaves Dakar to follow her husband Rudy to rural France. And it is through Rudy’s bitter and guilt-ridden perspective that we see Fanta stagnate with boredom in this alien, narrow environment.
Khady is forced into exile from Senegal because of poverty, because her husband is dead, because she is lonely and in despair. With other illegal immigrants, she embarks on a journey which takes her nowhere, but from which she will never return.
Fanta, on the other hand, leaves Dakar to follow her husband Rudy to rural France. And it is through Rudy’s bitter and guilt-ridden perspective that we see Fanta stagnate with boredom in this alien, narrow environment.
Khady is forced into exile from Senegal because of poverty, because her husband is dead, because she is lonely and in despair. With other illegal immigrants, she embarks on a journey which takes her nowhere, but from which she will never return.
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Reviews
'A fine book, full of NDiaye's narrative gusto, stylistic virtuosity and command of tone' Michael Sheringham, Times Literary Supplement.
'A novel of exceptional virtuosity' Le Monde.
'At times the language has a hypnotic emotional intensity ... The novel has a passion, daring and individuality that makes it stand out' Independent.
'John Fletcher's fine translation of this compelling novel conveys admirably NDiaye's needle-sharp prose and introduces a distinctive voice to Anglophone readers' Times Literary Supplement.
'NDiaye is without question one of the most interesting and innovative contemporary novelists' Ina Hartwig, Süddeutsche Zeitung.
'NDiaye's writing is extraordinarily powerful, and she is very well served by John Fletcher's elegant, economical translation' Times on Saturday.
'The Prix Goncourt has not had such a compelling winner for a long time' Felicitas von Lovenberg, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
'The prose compels with its astonishing range and precision' Guardian.
'Three Strong Women is the poised creation of a novelist unafraid to explore the extremes of human suffering' New York Times Book Review.