Our Lady of the Nile

Malvern’s mysterious Mr. F—you might remember meeting him a few months ago?—has a review for you of Our Lady of the Nile by Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga. It’s a brilliant new novel from Archipelago Books, and it won the prestigious French Voices Grand Prize.

Our Lady of the NileOur Lady of the Nile takes place in a Catholic boarding school for young women in Rwanda, fifteen years before the genocide that killed over a million Tutsi people. It’s a brutal, often humorous tale, centering on the privileged girls attending the school and the conflicts that unravel within the institution and the students. Reminiscent of The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark and Lord of the Flies, with overtones of class and race issues, this is a quick, moving, and enjoyable read.