La main d’Iman tells the touching story of three generations of inhabitants of black Africa.

The characters cross each other’s paths, tell each other’s story, and provide a picture of life in Africa. Where children are sold by their parents for the paltry amount of twenty-three euros, supposedly for a chance to grow up in the city, and are subsequently sold again as house slaves. Where a ride in a Mercedes is enough to get a young girl into bed. Where children with a black mother and a white father are not accepted and are ostracised by the community. Where fleeing is the only possibility left.

Black Africa is the unnamed leading character in this book in which three adolescents try to defy the harsh reality of their lives in order to be able to believe in love and the future once more. After years of thinking, Razaki has finally told the story of his Africa, an impressive, layered story that will pull you into the stormy lives of Toumanni, Alissa and Iman.

La main d’Iman was rewarded the Prix Robert-Cliché in 2011, an award for unpublished debut novels. In 2012 La main d’Iman was on the shortlist for the Prix du Gouverneur Général (Governor General’s Award).

Ryad Assani-Razaki, La main d’Iman, L’Hexagone, 2011.
© 2011 Éditions de l’Hexagone