Winner of the 2017 CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction
Devi writes about terrible and bitter events with a soft, delicate
voice. -- Le Figaro
Included in World Literature Today's 75 Notable Translations of 2016
With brutal honesty and poetic urgency, Ananda Devi relates the tale of
four young Mauritians trapped in their country's endless cycle of fear
and violence: Eve, whose body is her only weapon and source of power;
Savita, Eve's best friend, the only one who loves Eve without
self-interest, who has plans to leave but will not go alone; Saadiq,
gifted would-be poet, inspired by Rimbaud, in love with Eve; Clélio,
belligerent rebel, waiting without hope for his brother to send for him
from France.
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 the construction of personhood at the margins of society.
Awarded the prestigious Prix des cinq continents upon publication as
the best book written in French outside of France, Eve Out of her
Ruins is a harrowing account of the violent reality of life in her
native country by the figurehead of Mauritian literature.
The book featurues an original introduction by Nobel Prize winner J.M.G.
Le Clézio, who declares Devi a truly great writer.
Ananda Devi (b. 1957, Trois-Boutiques, Mauritius) is a novelist and
scholar. She has published eleven novels as well as short stories and
poetry, and was featured at the PEN World Voices Festival in New York in
2015. She was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French
Government in 2010.
