Dealing with the Dead

A playful, sardonic and surreal reckoning with Congolese history told from beyond the grave

Awakening on top of his own grave after a force like a hurricane has swept him up and turned him around, Liwa Ekimakingaï, whose name means 'Death was afraid of me' must come to terms with his new reality. Abruptly deceased at the age of twenty-four and trapped forever in flared purple trousers, he encounters the other late residents of Frère Lachaise cemetery, all of whom have their own complex histories of life and death. Against all ghostly advice. Liwa makes his way back to his childhood home in Ponte Noire to see his devoted grandmother one last time. Disturbing rumours and political corruption swirl together with Liwa's jumbled memories of his last night on earth, leaving him to solve the riddle of his own untimely demise. Dealing with the Dead is a darkly humorous and phantasmagorical tale of ambition, community and forces beyond human control by the foremost chronicler of Congolese history.