The Ardent Swarm
A Novel
by Yamen Manai
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Pub Date Feb 01 2021 | Archive Date Not set
AmazonCrossing | Amazon Crossing
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Description
From an award-winning Tunisian author comes a stirring allegory about a country in the aftermath of revolution and the power of a single quest.
Sidi lives a hermetic life as a bee whisperer, tending to his beloved “girls” on the outskirts of the desolate North African village of Nawa. He wakes one morning to find that something has attacked one of his beehives, brutally killing every inhabitant. Heartbroken, he soon learns that a mysterious swarm of vicious hornets committed the mass murder—but where did they come from, and how can he stop them? If he is going to unravel this mystery and save his bees from annihilation, Sidi must venture out into the village and then brave the big city and beyond in search of answers.
Along the way, he discovers a country and a people turned upside down by their new post–Arab Spring reality as Islamic fundamentalists seek to influence votes any way they can on the eve of the country’s first democratic elections. To succeed in his quest, and find a glimmer of hope to protect all that he holds dear, Sidi will have to look further than he ever imagined.
In this brilliantly accessible modern-day parable, Yamen Manai uses a masterful blend of humor and drama to reveal what happens in a country shaken by revolutionary change after the world stops watching.
A Note From the Publisher
Lara Vergnaud is a literary translator from the French. Her translations include Ahmed Bouanani’s The Hospital (New Directions, 2018) and Zahia Rahmani’s France, Story of a Childhood (Yale University Press, 2016), as well as works by Mohamed Leftah, Joy Sorman, and Scholastique Mukasonga, among others. Lara is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize and has been nominated for the National Translation Award.
Advance Praise
Winner of the Prix Comar d’Or and the Prix des Cinq Continents
International Praise for The Ardent Swarm
“Yamen Manai…speaks with the accuracy of the scientist and at the same time the fire of a poet and the imagination of the novelist.” —Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, in interview with Patrick Simonin, TV5 Monde
“[The Ardent Swarm explores] the problems of contemporary Tunisia but [they are] approached in a very gentle, very subtle way, with a smile.” —Yvan Le Perec, France Bleu
“What a wonderful little book that is at once an enchantment, a hymn to nature, a warning about intolerance and the fundamentalism that threatens us, and also a great lesson in courage.” —Gérard Collard, La Griffe Noire
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781542020473 |
PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
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General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction