Lit in Translation

Three Strong Women

Trois femmes puissantes

Marie NDiaye (born 1967)

Translated by John Fletcher

English editions

In English

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The book tells three separate stories, loosely linked by Senegal and by brief crossings between them. Norah, a lawyer in Paris, is summoned to Senegal by her cold, scornful father, who abandoned his French wife and children long ago, taking only his son, and who now wants something from her that he will not name. In the countryside around Bordeaux, Fanta, a former teacher of French from Senegal, appears only as her troubled husband Rudy Descas perceives her, a man hounded by a buzzard. Khady Demba, a young childless widow thrown out by her in-laws, sets off toward Europe by the routes of illegal migration. Each woman meets men who misuse their power, and each holds on to who she is. Strange, half-magical touches, often a bird, run through all three.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Length
316 pages in the original
Genres
Family, Migration (assigned by AI)
First published
2009 by Gallimard
Author's age
42 when first published
ISBN

9782070786541 (original)

9780307594693 (Alfred A. Knopf, United States)

9780857050564 (MacLehose Press, United Kingdom)

9780307741332 (Vintage, United States)

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Wikidata