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Book Cover for: A Girl Called Eel, Ali Zamir

A Girl Called Eel

Ali Zamir

"It is rare to say about a book that you have never read anything like it, and this is one such case." Elle

"A pure diamond, a magnificent event. A mind-blowing debut novel." Le Point

Eel is a 17-year-old girl who leaves her rock on the archipelago of Comoros to lose herself at sea. She drifts between two states of mind and between two islands 'in a hollow maze', evoking her memories so as to forget nothing and so as to delay the inevitable outcome.

Confronted with the pressing immediacy of imminent death, Eel recounts the story of her whole life in one long, sustained breath, in a series of brief couplets.

A story told in a single sentence, A Girl Called Eel is a memorial, a reckoning, and a powerful narrative imbued with a prevailing sense of urgency.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Jacaranda
  • Publish Date: Jun 6th, 2019
  • Pages: NA
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.70in - 5.10in - 0.90in - 0.57lb
  • EAN: 9781909762817
  • Categories: Family Life - Marriage & DivorceLiterary

About the Author

Zamir, Ali: - Born in Anjouan in 1987, Ali Zamir is the author of three novels. He studied at the University of Cairo and after obtaining an MA in French Literature, he returned to Anjouan to take up a post as Director of Culture and Cooperative Activities. He now lives in Montpellier where he continues to write. First published in French as Anguille sous roche by Le Tripode in 2016, A Girl Called Eel was his first novel.
Aneesa, Aneesa Abbas: - Aneesa Abbas Higgins became a literary translator after a long career as a teacher. Among the authors she has translated are François Garde, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, and Elisa Shua Dusapin.

Praise for this book

"A pure diamond, a magnificent event. A mind-blowing debut novel." - Le Point