Eve Out of Her Ruins

'"One day we wake up and the future has disappeared." So begins adult life in Troumaron, a run-down area of Port-Louis, in Mauritius. But Devi's young protagonists resist this erasure; boldest among them is Eve, one of the most compelling fictional characters I've ever encountered - she's up there with Ferrante's Lila. And fans of Ferrante's Neapolitan novels will also recognise in Devi's account of marginalised urban lives a similar commitment to the truth of how the dispossessed struggle. An extraordinary novel, beautifully translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman.' (Natasha Soobramanien, author of "Genie and Paul") Jeffrey Zuckerman was born in the Midwest and works in New York as an editor and a translator from French. His recent and forthcoming translations include Ananda Devi's Eve out of Her Ruins for Les Fugitives (UK) and Deep Vellum (US) as well as Antoine Volodine's Radiant Terminus, Thomas Clerc's Interior, and Jean Genet's The Criminal Child; he has also contributed shorter texts and translations to The New Republic, The Paris Review Daily, The White Review, and VICE. After graduating with honors from Yale University, he worked for various agents and editors in book publishing, was a judge for the 2016 PEN Translation Prize, and is now Digital Editor at Music & Literature Magazine. He is a recipient of a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant for his ongoing work on the complete stories of Herve Guibert.

"Eve out of Her Ruins" is a heartbreaking look at the dark corners of the island nation of Mauritius that tourists never see, and a poignant exploration of lives at the margins of society. Published in the UK for the first time, this celebrated novel won the 2006 Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie.Two girls: Eve, whose body is her only weapon and source of power; Savita, Eve's best friend and the only one who loves her selflessly, planning to leave, but not without Eve. Two boys: Saadiq, gifted would-be poet, deeply in love with Eve; Clelio, the neighbourhood tough, waiting without hope for his brother to send for him from France. All are desperate to escape the cycle of fear and violence in which they are trapped.