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"The best book on Haiti in a very long time . . . powerful, spot on, likely the best written." -Dany Laferri re An astonishing novel of raw beauty about gang life, sex work, and social media in Haiti "The best book on Haiti in a very long time . . . powerful, spot on, likely the best written." -Dany Laferri re An astonishing novel of raw beauty about gang life, sex work, and social media in Haiti Cece La Flamme, as she's known by her loyal Facebook friends, captures photographs of still bodies. Figures scorched and bruised, left to the rubble of the Cite of Divine Power. When she posts an image of a corpse, Cece's followers skyrocket. "Nothing got more attention than a good corpse that was nice and warm or already rotting." Just beside visions of rot and neglect, she posts pictures of her toes, gullies crisscrossing the cite, and her own lips painted blue. With every image, Cece seeks control and wants to create a frank, intimate record of the terror in her cite. Cece's world begins and ends with the cite -a slum peopled by gangs, yelping kids, grandmothers, junkies, and preachers. The very gate that encloses the cite was constructed by militant gang members. First boss Freddy, then Joel, then Jules Cesar rule the gang that holds the cite in a chokehold. Sharp, sincere, and desperate, Cece cleaves life for herself out of social media, sex work, and attempts at friendship with other women. When an American journalist offers to buy the rights to Cece's photographs, she demands double the cash. When an abusive former client dies, she wears hot pink to his funeral. Emmelie Proph te's novel is fierce, devastating, and suggestive - a record of a woman clawing back control.

Reviews

The best book on Haiti in a very long time ... powerful, spot on, likely the best written. This splendid writer's talent grabs us by the throat from the start, tightens the grip with each chapter, relaxes later on, then grips us again at the end, leaving us speechless. Dany Laferrire

Emmelie Prophte renders the lives of others, particularly women, in tight prose and sharp narration. Yves Chemla, Le National

This audacious novelist invests her heroine with glory as she narrates on the social networks the lives of women from the cit. Totally believable, an indelible voice. Valrie Marin La Mesle, Le Point

A powerful, breathtaking novel with a diverse cast of ordinary people, this book tattoos onto our memory. Ricot Marc Sony, Le Nouvelliste

Emmelie Prophte's fifth novel is immediately gripping. The writing borrows its descriptive immediacy from journalism and the characters confront the day to day grind of existence. A compelling read. Anne Bocand, Jeune Afrique

An extraordinary novel. The female characters are striking in their radiance. Michel Dsautels, Dsautels le Dimanche

Author Bio

Emmelie Proph te (b. 1971, Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is the author of two poetry collections and six novels, the first of which, Les Testaments de Solitude, won the Grand Prix litteraire de l'Association des ecrivains de langue fran aise. Proph te's most recent novel, Les Villages de Dieu, was awarded the Prix FetKann Maryse Conde, a prize that recognizes literature promoting human dignity from the largely postcolonial global South. Proph te is the former director of the National Library of Haiti, and is now a cultural curator in Port-au-Prince. Aidan Rooney (b. 1965, Monaghan, Ireland) is a teacher at Thayer Academy in Massachusetts, USA. Rooney's poetry collections include Go There, Tightrope, and Day Release. His translations from Haitian Krey l and French can be read elsewhere at AGNI, Asymptote, Carte Blanche, Tanbou, as well as in print in New American Writing #39. His honors include the Sunday Tribune / Hennessy Cognac Award for New Irish Poetry and the Daniel Varoujan Award from the New England Poetry Club. He lives in Hingham, Massachusetts.