Faïza Guène

Yamina Taleb is approaching her seventieth birthday. Alternating fragments from Yamina's Algerian past with those of her Paris present, Discretion spans the history of colonial conflict from the Second World War to the present day. A tribute to mothers everywhere, it is also the story of a modern French family feeling their way through the puzzle of their history - and finding one another as they go along.

Ahl me, a young woman living on the outskirts of Paris, is trying to make a life out of the dreams she brought with her from Algeria and the reality she faces every day. Her father lost his job after an accident at his construction site. Her mother was lost to a massacre in Algeria. And her brother, Foued, boils with adolescent energy and teeters dangerously close to choosing a life of crime. As she wanders the streets of Paris looking for work, Ahl me negotiates the disparities between her dreams and her life, her youth and her responsibilities, the expectations of those back home and the limitations of life in France. With the same laugh-out-loud, razor-sharp humor that made Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow an international hit, Some Dream for Fools shows Fa za Gu ne's evolution as a novelist and reminds us of her extraordinary talent as she explores what happens to people when a lid is put on their dreams.

I en søvnig småby i enden av en lokaltoglinje utenfor Paris blir innehaveren av kafeen Balto en dag funnet knivstukket til døde. Lokalpressen tegner et bilde av en sympatisk og elsket mann, men stamgjestene på Balto er av en annen oppfatning. Forklaringene spriker da de drapsmistenkte stamgjestene på Balto én etter én kalles inn til avhør.

Dreams from the Endz is the story of twenty-four-year-old Ahlème, who is spirited, sassy and wise but has more problems than she knows how to deal with. Her father, The Boss, is permanently disabled after an accident on a building site, her sixteen-year-old brother, Foued, has been permanently excluded from school and seems intent on joining the drug-dealers who share their estate, while she is left to deal with the guilt trips from their family back in Algeria. But when she returns home - after a ten-year absence - she brokers a kind of truce, both with her homeland and the need to forge a future.

Yamina Taleb is approaching her seventieth birthday. Alternating fragments from Yamina's Algerian past with those of her Paris present, Discretion spans the history of colonial conflict from the Second World War to the present day. A tribute to mothers everywhere, it is also the story of a modern French family feeling their way through the puzzle of their history - and finding one another as they go along.

Mourad and his family live in Nice. His retired father spends his days fixing up things in the backyard; his mother, bemoaning the loss of her natal village in North Africa. Dounia, the eldest, is a staunch feminist; Mina, the youngest, blushes when the scented shower gel ad comes on. Mourad is strangely torn between a desire for freedom and the fear of his worst nightmare: that of becoming an overweight bachelor with salt and pepper hair. On her eighteenth birthday, Dounia leaves home for good. She is no longer part of the family. Ten years later, Mourad's father has a stroke and makes his son promise to patch things up with his estranged sister, now a lawyer with an aspiring career in politics. Appointed to the Parisian suburbs as a teacher-in-training, Mourad tracks down Dounia and battles to span the gulf separating her and the rest of the family.

Joël, aka 'The Rink' (because his bald patch is shiny enough to skate on), the unpopular owner of the only bar in town has been murdered. There are so many suspects, it's not so much a question of who did kill him as who didn't. There's Magalie, the temperamental teenager obsessed with Paris Hilton; her troublemaker boyfriend, Tani; Tani's mother, Madame Levi; her unemployed, daytime-TV addicted husband; Yeznig, their younger son, who has learning difficulties but perfect memory recall; and newcomers Ali and Nadia, the Muslim twins struggling to fit in. As the tension mounts and we're still none the wiser, the ending is as tragic as it is unexpected.

Doria är 15 år och bor med sin mamma i en förort till Paris. Mamma är analfabet och jobbar som hotellstäderska. Pappa har flyttat tillbaka till Marocko och gift om sig. Hon lever i en värld där det alltid är ont om pengar, där alla kläder är begagnade och där socialtanterna vill väl men inte kan dölja sitt nedlåtande.Motgångar hör till vardagen men Doria är smart och skärpt vilket tar henne framåt. När mamman börjar på en franskkurs för analfabeter och Doria får ett jobb börjar livet sakta men säkert räta ut sig."Det är rappt och smart, Guènes fantasi är ett fyrverkeri."SvD"Hennes röst har en oemotståndlig blandning av tillämpad tuffhet och känslig klarsyn..."DN "... en oemotståndlig och humoristisk berättelse om en del av samhället som fortfarande skildras allt för sällan i litteraturen."Helsingborgs Dagblad "... som en fransk version av Jonas Hassen Khemiris Ett öga rött... Det är en rapp och rolig roman som charmar med sin muntra svärta och bitska självironi."Norrköpings Tidningar"Det finns en härlig kraft i Kiffe Kiffe imorgon, det slår gnistor om såväl innehåll som form."Upsala Nya Tidning

Doria er femten år gammel og bor i en forstad til Paris. Romanen handler om hvordan det er å være tenåring, om å være ung muslim i Europa, og om at verden av og til kan forandre seg hvis man tar saken i egne hender.

Ahlème er tjuefire. Hun har en far som ikke er helt i hundre og en lillebror som aldri klarer å holde seg unna trøbbel. Hun må ta til takke med underbetalte korttidsjobber og to venninner som er svært glade i sladder. Dessuten har hun en egen tiltrekningskraft på idioter. Det ville være løgn å påstå at hun har alt hun trenger for å være lykkelig. Likevel går Ahlème gjennom livet i drabantbyen, i Paris og i landsbyen i Algerie med sin egen svarte humor. Selv om man ikke har permanent oppholdstillatelse, sliter med å få seg jobb og er ulykkelig forelsket, er det jo ikke forbudt å drømme. Om det så bare er drømmer for gærninger.

Doria er femten år og bor sammen med moren i en forstad utenfor Paris. Faren har reist tilbake til Marokko for å finne seg en yngre kone. Kompisen Hamoudi pusher dop og siterer Rimbaud, og Doria har ukentlige samtaler med en velmenende, men nedlatende skolepsykolog. Kiffe kiffe i morgen handler om hvordan det er å være tenåring og alltid blakk, om det å være ung muslim i Europa i dag, og ikke minst om at tingene av og til kan forandre seg. Morgendagen er kanskje ikke er så forutsigbar likevel?

He thought I'd forged my mom's name on the slip. How stupid is that? On this thing Mom just made a kind of squiggly shape on the page. That jerk didn't even think about what he was saying, didn't even ask himself why her signature might be weird. He's one of those people who think illiteracy is like AIDS. It only exists in Africa.--from Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow "A tale for anyone who has ever lived outside looking in, especially from that alien country called adolescence. A funny, heartfelt story from a wise guy who happens to be a girl. If you've ever fallen in love, if you've ever had your heart broken, this story is your story." -- Sandra Cisneros, author of THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET The Paradise projects are only a few metro stops from Paris, but here it's a whole different kind of France. Doria's father, the Beard, has headed back to their hometown in Morocco, leaving her and her mom to cope with their mektoub--their destiny--alone. They have a little help-- from a social worker sent by the city, a psychiatrist sent by the school, and a thug friend who recites Rimbaud. It seems like fate's dealt them an impossible hand, but Doria might still make a new life. She'll prove the projects aren't only about rap, soccer, and religious tension. She'll take the Arabic word kif-kif (same old, same old) and mix it up with the French verb kiffer (to really like something). Now she has a whole new motto: KIFFE KIFFE TOMORROW. "Moving and irreverent, sad and funny, full of rage and intelligence. Gu ne's] characters are unforgettable, her voice fresh, and her book a delight." -- Laila Lalami, author of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits Fa za Gu ne, the child of Algerian immigrants, grew up in the public housing projects of Pantin, outside Paris. This is her first book.

Fifteen-year-old Doria isn't in a good place. Still, it could be worse: Doria could be like Samra, the girl in the flat above, whose father doesn't let her out, or Youssef who has been banged up for a year for dealing in drugs and stolen cars.