Deftly moving between Algeria and Paris, bestselling novelist Fa za Gu ne's Discretion compellingly evokes the realities of a first- and second-generation family as they carve out a future for themselves in France, finding one another as they go along.
Yamina Taleb is approaching her seventieth birthday. These days, she strives for a quiet life, grateful to the country that hosts her and her adored family. The closest she gets to drama is scooping 'revolutionary' bargains in the form of plastic kitchenware gadgets.
But Yamina's children feel differently. They don't always fit in in Paris, and it hurts. Omar wonders whether it's too late to change course as he watches the world pass him by from the driver's seat of his Uber. His sisters are tired of having to prove themselves, and their allegiance, to a place that is at once home, and not. When the whole family goes away on holiday - not to the motherland, but to a villa-with-pool rental near the Atlantic coast - the Talebs come to realise just how family
defines our sense of belonging.
Alternating fragments from Yamina's Algerian past with those of her Paris present, Discretion spans the history of colonial conflict from the Second World War to the present day. A tribute to mothers everywhere, it is also the story of a modern French family feeling their way through the puzzle of their history - and finding one another as they go along.
Industry Reviews
'Faiza Guene is an important voice in French literature, rebelliously dissecting ideas of home, identity and belonging with a universally accessible intimacy and power.' -- Diana Evans
"Haunting .. Clear-eyed but tender, every page is filled with insight. " * Herald Scotland *
"Guene is a masterful storyteller who can say so much in just a few sentences" * Arab News *
'It's not an exaggeration to suggest that Guene is doing for the people, especially the youth, of the banlieu what James Kelman and Agnes Owens have done for the deprived of Glasgow's housing schemes: that is, give a voice to those who have been excluded from literature ... Guene is very evidently a natural novelist, a young writer of real talent' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *
'She writes her novel like one might narrate a film, with a poetic prose that reveals detailed glimpses into the generations of the Taleb family, hardened and shaped by war, immigration and racism.' * The National *
'This is a rich novel, full of insight into cultural tropes, racial prejudice, consumerism, shameful colonial history but also infused with sheer human warmth and humour. It is a tightrope walk that Faiza Guene carries off with grace.' * Books Oxygen *
'Guene has a fine eye for the contradictions, agonies and delights of life at the intersection of Algeria, contemporary Paris, and its banlieue. Discretion ... takes in dispossession, belonging, memory and the intergenerational conflict over silence and discretion in the face of pain or injustice. A short bitter-sweet read with a light touch, Guene captures many of the tensions that tug at second-generation immigrant families in France today with honesty, humour and warmth.' * The Economist *
'One of the hottest literary talents of multicultural Europe.' * Sunday Telegraph *
'Guene is too important a writer to dismiss ... she deserves to be heard.' * Independent *
