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The protagonist of this satirical novel travels to Africa on a journey that ends up as an exploration of self-righteous racism and the collective responsibility to address it.
About the author
Agur Schiff, born in 1955 in Tel Aviv, is a graduate of Saint Martin’s School of Art in London and the Rijks Art Academy in Amsterdam. He has worked as a filmmaker, started writing fiction in the early 1990s, and has published two short story collections and six novels. Schiff is professor emeritus at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.
Summary
"A writer contends with slavery's legacy, and his own link to it . . . Daring in both scope and imagination."—The New York Times
A stellar novel rendered into a darkly comic, unforgettable narrative by Booker International Prize winning translator Jessica Cohen. An Israeli professor travels to a fictitious West African nation to trace a slave-trading ancestor, only to be imprisoned under a new law barring successive generations from profiting off the proceeds of slavery. But before departing from Tel Aviv, the protagonist falls in love with Lucile, a mysterious African migrant worker who cleans his house. Entertaining and thought-provoking, this satire of contemporary attitudes toward racism and the legacy of colonialism examines economic inequality and the global refugee crisis, as well as the memory of transatlantic chattel slavery and the Holocaust. Is the professor’s passion for Africa merely a fashionable pose and the book he's secretly writing about his experience there nothing but a modern version of the slave trade?
Foreword
-Smart, sharp and darkly comic novel -For fans of Dave Eggers' acclaimed A Hologram for the King
-Unforgettable characters, fast-paced narrative, distinct perspective
-Strong appeal for readers passionate about racial justice, history, foreign affairs, and literary fiction
-Over 300 print advance review copies to be distributed to reviewers and booksellers.
-Social media promotion
-Author appearances in New York and media profiles planned
