Tropic of Violence

Marie, a nurse on the island of Mayotte, adopts a baby abandoned by refugees and names him Moïse. But when Marie dies, Moïse is left completely alone, plunged into uncertainty and turmoil, set on a collision course with the gangs of the largest and most infamous slum on Mayotte: Gaza.
On an island paradise on the edge of chaos, a small choir of narrators takes up this story of lost youth in the middle of the Indian Ocean. From Bruce the terrifying gang leader, to Olivier the police officer fighting a helpless battle and Stéphane the naïve aid worker, Tropic of Violence shines a powerful light on the violence, deprivation and isolation that tears apart this island, largely unnoticed by metropolitan France. A remarkable, unsettling new novel from one of the most exciting voices in world literature today.