Riambel

By: Priya Hein

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Paperback | 1 June 2023

At a Glance

Paperback
160 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 12.9 x 1.2

Paperback

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Fifteen-year-old Noemi has no choice but to leave school and work in the house of the wealthy De Grandbourg family. Just across the road from the slums where she grew up, she encounters a world that is starkly different from her own yet one which would have been all too familiar to her ancestors. Bewitched by a pair of green eyes and haunted by echoes, her life begins to mirror those of girls who have gone before her. Within Noemi's lament is also the herstory of Mauritius; the story of women who have resisted arrest, of teachers who care for their poorest pupils and encourage them to challenge traditional narratives, of a flawed Paradise undergoing slow but unstoppable change.

In Riambel, Priya Hein invites us to protest, to rail against longstanding structures of class and ethnicity. She shows us a world of natural enchantment contrasted with violence and the abuse of power. This seemingly simple tale of servitude, seduction and abandonment blisters with a fierce sense of injustice.

'Priya Hein has given us a book that should be essential reading for all those who care about our history, in particular the devastating legacy of slavery; but what is extraordinary is that she tells this harrowing story in the most beautiful prose, luminous and musical, drawing in the reader before hitting them hard with the reality of her young narrator's life, and the humiliations and pain she endures because of this very legacy. Today more than ever, this story needs to be told; Priya Hein does so movingly and powerfully.' Ananda Devi, author of Eve Out of Her Ruins

'Riambel bravely grasps the complexity of ethnic relationships in Mauritius . . . displaying great art in the sense of shame blended with indignation and in the gaps in what is not said.' J. M. G. Le Clezio, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

Industry Reviews

'Not only am I finding the book really fascinating but I'm getting through it really quickly as I'm compelled to turn the pages!'

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChpjzZVoD0Y/?hl=en

'4 stars'

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch7tYSoLqSr/?hl=en

-- @zukythebookbum * Instagram *

'I absolutely flew through it. The short chapters ignite the pace, delivering punch after punch and I found myself mesmerised by Priya's fierce yet beautiful writing. This is one you won't want to miss.'

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkApRfnrcvl/?hl=en

-- @adleilareads * Instagram *

'The premise of this novel feels incredibly timely'

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChpkEiNo0pi/?hl=en

-- @between2books_ * Instagram *

The Selection for the 2022 Literary Season

'A punchy novel that arouses indignation'

https://librairie-quartierlatin.fr/2022/09/10/la-selection-de-la-rentree-litteraire-2022/

* Quartier Latin *

Paradise, Lost: Priya Hein's Riambel

"In the span of a mere 160 pages, this extraordinary debut packs rare insight into the trauma and deference seeded by the long reign of capitalism and the white man's whims."

https://www.cardiffreview.com/review/paradise-lost-priya-heins-riambel/

-- Vartika Rastogi * The Cardiff Review *

Priya Hein: 'Laughing loudly' at Riambel

https://www.lexpress.mu/article/413921/priya-hein-rire-en-belle-riambel?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1664170894-1

-- Aline Groeme-Harmon * L'Express *

61 Anticipated African Books of 2023

https://brittlepaper.com/2023/01/61-anticipated-african-books-of-2023/

-- Alesia Alexander * Brittle Paper *

Isele Magazine's Most Anticipated African Books of 2023

https://iselemagazine.com/2023/01/13/isele-magazines-most-anticipated-african-books-of-2023/

* Isele Magazine *

Reads for the Rest of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2023

https://msmagazine.com/2023/01/25/anticipated-feminist-books-2023/

-- Karla J. Strand * Ms. Magazine *

'a vivid, sensory book'

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2023/02/24/browser-how-the-head-of-mi6-tried-to-derail-charles-haugheys-career/

-- Ruth McKee * The Irish Times *

'Riambel by Priya Hein: a sensual and deceptively simple evocation of generational slavery'

https://lucywritersplatform.com/2023/03/07/riambel-by-priya-hein-a-sensual-and-deceptively-simple-evocation-of-generational-slavery/

-- Laetitia Erskine * Lucy Writers *

Shame and Violence: How a history of slavery continues to dictate Mauritian lives

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/riambel-priya-hein-book-review-yagnishsing-dawoor/

-- Yagnishing Dawoor * TLS *

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