KAYA DAYS

A much-anticipated novel in translation from a Mauritian maestro.

In 1999, Kaya, a Mauritian musician and activist, performed at a public concert to advocate for the legalization of marijuana in the archipelago nation. Later arrested for smoking weed onstage, Kaya was found dead in his jail cell within a few days. This ignited widespread protests and violence across the ethnically diverse country, which had long simmered under poverty and inequality, especially among the islands' Creole inhabitants. This highly charged backdrop serves as the point of departure for de Souza's frenetic novel, which follows Santee as she searches for her brother, Ram, who goes missing in the riotous aftermath. Santee's quest barely begins before she escapes an attempted assault at the Négus, a popping nightclub, which then burns to the ground before her eyes. After a rambling ride with a taxi cab driver, Santee meets a young man, whom she incorrectly calls Ronaldo Milanac when she mistakes his tattoo of the famous footballer's name for his own. Santee continues her search, and de Souza's incessantly swift prose translates the racial and religious kaleidoscope of the Mauritian experience into a deceptively compact novel. Also noteworthy are the faithful incorporation of Francophone Creole and moments of unexpected wonderment, as when rambunctious monkeys interrupt Santee and Ronaldo's Bollywood dance number. Long overlooked in the United States, de Souza and his compatriots deserve to be celebrated stateside.

An electrifying portrait of a tiny island nation on fire.