“Jean-Euphèle Milcé
lives in Port-au-Prince and has, it seems, survived the catastrophe. His novel Alphabet of the Night (Pushkin Press)
captures the blended sensuality and sorrow of that accursed city.”
BOYD TONKIN
The Independent, January
22nd 2010
"Christopher Moncrieff's fine translation
effectively conveys this book's heady, poetic style. Jean-Euphèle Milcé ... his
powerful and affecting first novel paints a terrifying picture of a society
spiralling inexorably downwards."
CHRIS SCHULER The Independent
"Milcé ... has a style detached enough for
clarity, but sufficiently angry to give his narrator a passionate driving
force."
NORA MAHOMY Times
Literary Supplement
"This is the understatement of poetry against
horror. Not a single sentence leaves you feeling indifferent."
BERTIL GALLAND L'Arpenteur
Port-au-Prince, another dull morning tinged with violence and black magic. Jeremy Assaël, a Jewish shopkeeper, sees his friend and lover, Lucien, gunned down outside his shop by a vengeful policeman.
In a Haiti that exists in the perpetual night of misery and oppression, Jeremy wonders if his only option is exile. His best friend from school, Fresnel, has disappeared in ominous circumstances. So he embarks on a quest to discover his fate.
His search leads him to a corrupt pastor, a shady revolutionary and a voodoo priest. What is revealed is not only himself but contemporary Haiti, a land where everything and nothing is possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JEAN-EUPHELE MILCÉ was born in 1969 in Haiti. After studying Applied Linguistics at the State University of Haiti and training in Information and Library Management, he taught Creole literature and was Director of the Haitian Library. He has published several works in Creole and French and is co-founder of the literary magazine Lire Haiti. He lives in Haiti.
TRANSLATED from the French by Christopher Moncrieff
Cover Illustration Tiane Doan Na Champassak
ISBN 978 1 901285 76 5
