Days Come and Go

by Hemley Boum, Nchanji Njamnsi (Translator)

Overview

Chronicling the beauty and turmoil of a rapidly changing Cameroon, Days Come and Go is the remarkable story of three generations of women both within and beyond its borders. Through the voices of Anna, a matriarch living out her final days in Paris; Abi, Anna’s thoroughly European daughter (at least in her mother’s eyes); and Tina, a teenager who comes under the sway of a militant terrorist faction, Boum’s epic is generous and all-seeing. Brilliantly considering the many issues that dominate her characters’ lives—love and politics, tradition and modernity—Days Come and Go, in Nchanji Njamnsi’s vivid translation, is a page-turner by way of Frantz Fanon and V. S. Naipaul. As passions rise, fall, and rise again, Boum's stirring English-language debut offers a discerning portrait of a nation that never once diminishes the power of everyday human connection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949641363
Publisher:	Two Lines Press
Publication date:	09/06/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	920,004
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

A novelist, poet, and essayist, Hemley Boum is the author of four novels, including Les Maquisards, which received the Grand prix littéraire de l’Afrique Noire, and Days Come and Go (Les jours viennent et passent), winner of the Prix Amadou Kourouma, which has been translated into both German and Dutch. She regularly publishes articles in Jeune Afrique, Le Point Afrique and Le Monde Afrique, and speaks at colloquia, universities, and literary festivals. Hemley has conducted masterclasses in France, Réunion, Cameroon, and Congo, and since 2019 she has been involved in “La Fabrique de Souza”, a series of literary salons in Douala, Cameroon. Hemley was born in Cameroon, where she studied anthropology before relocating to Lille, France, to study international trade. She currently lives in Paris, France.

Editorial Reviews

07/18/2022

Cameroonian writer Boum depicts a changing Cameroon through the lives of mothers and daughters in her heartfelt if uneven English-language debut. When Anna, who is dying of breast cancer, is taken to palliative care in Paris by her daughter, Abi, she starts to tell her life story. Sometimes speaking to an empty room and other times to her caregiver, Anna starts with her own birth into a lineage of Cameroonian women who died in childbirth, chronicles her young adult life, and reflects on her relationship with Abi, to whom she never felt close: “I had to wait until those final moments for my beloved daughter... to wrap me in the warmth of her unfailing affection,” she says. Concurrently, Abi recovers from a broken marriage that alienated her from her son, Max. Despite being from different generations and starting families on different continents, both women struggle to balance their desires with societal expectations. Halfway through, the focus shifts to Max’s friend Tina, who fights for her and her friends’ lives at a Boko Haram camp. While the themes are salient, the thread feels tacked on, and Boum doesn’t bring the same level of depth to the rest of the characters as she does to Anna and Abi. Though it’s ultimately disappointing, Boum shows plenty of promise. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

WINNER OF THE 2020 AHMADOU KOUROUMA PRIZE

“This is the vividly told story of three generations of women (and their husbands, friends, sons, and lovers—not necessarily in order of importance) both in Cameroon and after immigrating to France.…The ending of the book, though searing and tragic, brings us back to the overriding importance of sharing our humanity.” —Mayday

“A chronicle about a rapidly changing Cameroon, [Days Come and Go] tells the story of three generations of women. Anna, a matriarch in Paris, Abi, her daughter, and Tina, a teen who comes under the influence of a militant terrorist faction. In different ways, they all confront, love and politics, tradition and modernity.”—The Millions (Most Anticipated Books of 2022)

“Following as three generations work to leave their painful legacies behind for the sake of their progeny, Days Come and Go is a multigenerational story about lost innocence—and about perseverance.” —Foreword Reviews

“Cameroonian writer Boum depicts a changing Cameroon through the lives of mothers and daughters.” —Publishers Weekly

“There’s something of Tolstoy’s War and Peace in this epic novel.…Anna and her family are archetypes of the tragedy of human existence, which may be the true subject of the talented novelist Hemley Boum’s work.” —Radio France Internationale

“Through a gallery of portraits of mothers and children struggling to survive in a patriarchal society in decline, in Days Come and Go, Hemley Boum mixes both intimate and expansive stories.” —Le Monde

From the Publisher