The Fisherman's Dream

A family divided by migration, memory, and the violent reshaping of their homeland Zacharias is a fisherman in Cameroon. His community - shaped for generations by the river's rhythms and the meeting of forest and ocean - is upended by the arrival of predatory economic interests that exploit both land and people. Violence and irreversible change tear apart Zacharias's family. Decades later, his grandson Zack is adrift in Paris, haunted by a grandfather he never knew and a country whose wounds he carries in his body. A work of rare lyricism and political force that braids together the destinies of grandfather and grandson, each carrying the weight of a world transformed, and the delicate inheritance of love.

Hemley Boum was born in Douala, Cameroon, and now lives in France. She is the award-winning author of several novels including Si d'aimer... (Prix Ivoire, 2013), Les Maquisards (Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Afrique Noire, 2015; Prix du livre engagé, 2016), and Les Jours viennent et passent (Prix Kourouma, 2020). Her writing explores family histories, political upheavals, colonial legacies, and the intimate consequences of global forces on everyday lives.