Eve Out of Her Ruins

Born in Mauritius, Ananda Devi is amulti-award-winning novelist, short-story writer and poet. Translated into adozen languages, she is considered a powerful voice in modern African writingin French. Winner of the 2024 Neustadt International Prize for Literature forthe entirety of her work, she holds a PhD in social anthropology from SOAS,London, where she lived for several years. She has also lived inCongo-Brazzaville and currently resides in Ferney-Voltaire, France.

'Here is a truly great writer.'J. M. G.Le Clezio, Nobel Prize in Literature'...one of Devi and Zuckerman's greatesttriumphs in this book is that each character has their own distinct rhythms,with power and poetry drawn from the cadences of their speech ... thenarration is extraordinary, shifting between describing solid, often sordiddetails with vivid precision, and soaring into more abstract passages that echothe ebb and flow of the sea that 'surges, escapes, shatters' on the island'sshore ... Together these voices provide a stunning immersion in Troumaron, animpoverished area of Port Louis, and in the surges of teenage lust ... astunning short novel.' - Deborah Smith, Guardian'Told in a sparse, economical prose, Eve out of Her Ruins is a quietly harrowing portrait of the moral toxicity ofgroupthink, and the insidious banality of gendered violence. Headstrong andunapologetically wilful, Eve's monologues are a bleak meditation on thecontingent nature of personal sovereignty in a social world defined by deeplyentrenched power relations: "'We're butterflies caught in a net,' sheobserves, 'even at our most exultant, even at our most resistant."' - Houman Barekat, New Internationalist'[Devi] confronts us with instances of great pain and suffering, yetseldom without embracing the redemptive qualities of attentiveness, spirit,beauty. This is a novel that can take you to fathomless depths. Itsartistry is such that you are unlikely to close it feeling ruined.' - Matthew Adams, The National'Devi's novel is of a piece with an important strand in postcolonialfeminist writing that locates the central tragedy of survival in the necessityof repeated leave-takings, which are always acts of betrayal - betrayal ofhome, of history, of nation, of those who stayed.' - Anjuli Raza Kolb, Bookforum'Told in a lyrical, haunting voice, this grief-riven taleabout the underworld of Mauritius is harshly compelling.' - TheBookbag'The most vivid novel I've read in ages,magnificently translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman. The gorgeous, profoundly poeticwriting is completely mesmerizing and viscerally affecting: it gave megoose bumps several times....The narrative slowly escalates through brilliantand memorable scenes, as well as haunting inner monologues, to its gloriousconclusion....There is something so triumphant and so powerful in thestructure of Eve, and something so real and touching in these characters,each consistent, unexpected, thought-provoking and wonderful. A work ofprofound sympathy and deep desire.' - Jennifer Croft, author of The Extinction of Irena Rey'... incredible, so poetic and visceral.Devi is a powerful and uncompromising writer but the moments of tenderness andhumanity throughout made the lack of it all the more stark.' - Deirdre Sullivan, author of Tangleweedand Brine