Tropic of Violence

Marie, a nurse on the island of Mayotte, adopts an abandoned baby and names him Moise, raising him as a French boy. As he grows up, Moise struggles with his status as an "outsider" and to understand why he was abandoned as a baby. When Marie dies, he is left alone, plunged into uncertainty and turmoil, ending up in the largest and most infamous slum on Mayotte, nicknamed "Gaza".

Narrated by five different characters, Tropic of Violence is an exploration of lost youth on the French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. Shining a powerful light on problems of violence, immigration, identity, deprivation and isolation on this island that became a French departement in 2011, it is a remarkable, unsettling new novel that draws on the author's own observations from her time on Mayotte.

Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan

“A masterpiece - La Grande LibrairieThis hard, harsh story will wring out your heart with its otherworldly poetry - ElleIn the magnificent Tropic of Violence , Nathacha Appanah gives us a terrifying portrait of Mayotte - LireA brief, beautiful, brutal portrait of this tiny island in the Indian Ocean - Le MondeThe strength and the elegance of this novel will take your breath away - L'ExpressThe hell of Mayotte finds its redemption in the novel's restrained , imaginative use of language - Liberation”

A masterpiece -- François Busnel La Grande Librairie
This hard, harsh story will wring out your heart with its otherworldly poetry -- Xavier Houssin Elle
In the magnificent Tropic of Violence, Nathacha Appanah gives us a terrifying portrait of Mayotte -- Julien Bisson Lire
A brief, beautiful, brutal portrait of this tiny island in the Indian Ocean -- Gladys Marivat Le Monde
The strength and the elegance of this novel will take your breath away -- Marianne Payot L'Express
The hell of Mayotte finds its redemption in the novel's restrained, imaginative use of language -- Claire Devarrieux Libération
Brilliantly vivid Guardian
Beautiful and brutal New Yorker
Searing, lyrical, and ultimately devastating, Tropic of Violence might be Appanah's finest yet Kirkus Reviews

Nathacha Appanah was born in Mauritius in 1973. She was brought up there and worked as a journalist before moving to France in 1998. The Last Brother, her first novel to be translated into English, was awarded the FNAC Fiction Prize in 2007 in its French edition. Her novel Tropic of Violence was winner of the Prix Femina des Lyceens in 2016, as well as seven other French literary awards.

Marie, a nurse on the island of Mayotte, adopts an abandoned baby and names him Moise, raising him as a French boy. As he grows up, Moise struggles with his status as an "outsider" and to understand why he was abandoned as a baby. When Marie dies, he is left alone, plunged into uncertainty and turmoil, ending up in the largest and most infamous slum on Mayotte, nicknamed "Gaza".Narrated by five different characters, Tropic of Violence is an exploration of lost youth on the French island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. Shining a powerful light on problems of violence, immigration, identity, deprivation and isolation on this island that became a French departement in 2011, it is a remarkable, unsettling new novel that draws on the author's own observations from her time on Mayotte. Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan

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