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Jacaranda
- Author
- Gaël Faye
- Narrator
- Ery Nzaramba
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 6 August 2026
- Run Time
- 8 hours 11 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
A young man journeys from Paris to Rwanda to discover the truth about his mother’s past and the country of her birth, from bestselling and prize-winning Rwandan-French novelist and hip-hop artist Gaël Faye
Milan – the twelve-year-old son of a French father and a Rwandan mother – blames flunking his exams on the emotional trauma of the genocide in his mother’s homeland. It’s a convenient excuse: growing up outside Paris in the 1990s, the violence is an abstraction that only reaches him through distant television broadcasts.
That is, until Milan’s mother introduces him to Claude, a young cousin with a bandaged head who has come to France seeking medical treatment. Thrilled to have a new playmate, Milan treats Claude as a brother until one day, he is sent back to Rwanda as quickly as he came.
Four years later, Milan travels for the first time to Rwanda, encountering a beguiling country and family members he never knew existed, and reuniting with Claude. But the trip raises more questions than it answers – about Milan's family history, the war and its aftershocks.
Over the course of many years, Milan returns to Rwanda again and again, compelled to confront the past and imagine a new kind of future. Jacaranda is a deeply felt portrait of a man seeking to understand his family and his nation.
‘A luminous poetic quality … unforgettable’ Leïla Slimani
‘Utterly, captivatingly brilliant’ Philippe Sands
‘A writer of great promise and grace’ Chigozie Obioma
‘Gaël Faye’s talent is breathtaking’ Imbolo Mbue
© Gaël Faye 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
Critics Review
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A bold and uncompromising book
Guardian
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Crisply translated by Sarah Ardizzone, Jacaranda is a powerful account of a country’s fragmentation, the horrific violence neighbours inflicted on neighbours and intergenerational trauma
Financial Times
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'A nuanced exploration of conflict and the meaning of resolution. Though it is focused on Rwanda ... the question of whether people can forgive and forget past wrongs is a universal one. Hope lies with the next generation.'
The Economist
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'There is magic in Gaël Faye’s writing. A luminous poetic quality that sheds light on History without tempering it—probing, with supreme clarity, the secrets of a country and a family. Through the beauty of his style, he speaks humanely and compassionately about the worst atrocities. This book is unforgettable.'
Leïla Slimani
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‘A work of rare, poetic and haunting qualities, on memory, identity and justice, and the humanity that horror might beget. Memorable and utterly, captivatingly brilliant.’
Philippe Sands
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'A novel about time and its effects, about what it does to people, to memory, to places. . . .Above all a novel that speaks out against silence.'
Le Monde
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'A deeply felt exploration of memory, inheritance, and the possibility that something beautiful can emerge from the worst type of atrocity . . . populate[d] with vivid and morally complex characters.'
Publishers Weekly
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'An extraordinary life force emanates from these pages.'
La Croix
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Gaël Faye
- Narrator
- Ery Nzaramba
- Duration
- 8 hours 11 minutes
- Release Date
- 6 August 2026
- ISBN
- 9781529974768
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Historical fiction, Narrative theme: displacement, exile, migration, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Fiction in translation, Genocide and ethnic cleansing
Synopsis
A young man journeys from Paris to Rwanda to discover the truth about his mother’s past and the country of her birth, from bestselling and prize-winning Rwandan-French novelist and hip-hop artist Gaël FayeMilan – the twelve-year-old son of a French father and a Rwandan mother – blames flunking his exams on the emotional trauma of the genocide in his mother’s homeland. It’s a convenient excuse: growing up outside Paris in the 1990s, the violence is an abstraction that only reaches him through distant television broadcasts.That is, until Milan’s mother introduces him to Claude, a young cousin with a bandaged head who has come to France seeking medical treatment. Thrilled to have a new playmate, Milan treats Claude as a brother until one day, he is sent back to Rwanda as quickly as he came.Four years later, Milan travels for the first time to Rwanda, encountering a beguiling country and family members he never knew existed, and reuniting with Claude. But the trip raises more questions than it answers – about Milan's family history, the war and its aftershocks.Over the course of many years, Milan returns to Rwanda again and again, compelled to confront the past and imagine a new kind of future. Jacaranda is a deeply felt portrait of a man seeking to understand his family and his nation.‘A luminous poetic quality … unforgettable’ Leïla Slimani‘Utterly, captivatingly brilliant’ Philippe Sands‘A writer of great promise and grace’ Chigozie Obioma‘Gaël Faye’s talent is breathtaking’ Imbolo Mbue© Gaël Faye 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
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