Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Chronicling the beauty and turmoil of a rapidly changing Cameroon, Days Come and Go is the remarkable story of three generations of women both within and beyond its borders. Through the voices of Anna, a matriarch living out her final days in Paris; Abi, Anna’s thoroughly European daughter (at least in her mother’s eyes); and Tina, a teenager who comes under the sway of a militant terrorist faction, Boum’s epic is generous and all-seeing. Brilliantly considering the many issues that dominate her characters’ lives—love and politics, tradition and modernity—Days Come and Go, in Nchanji Njamnsi’s vivid translation, is a page-turner by way of Frantz Fanon and V. S. Naipaul. As passions rise, fall, and rise again, Boum's stirring English-language debut offers a discerning portrait of a nation that never once diminishes the power of everyday human connection.
WINNER OF THE 2020 AHMADOU KOUROUMA PRIZE
“This is the vividly told story of three generations of women (and their husbands, friends, sons, and lovers—not necessarily in order of importance) both in Cameroon and after immigrating to France.…The ending of the book, though searing and tragic, brings us back to the overriding importance of sharing our humanity.” —Mayday
“A chronicle about a rapidly changing Cameroon, [Days Come and Go] tells the story of three generations of women. Anna, a matriarch in Paris, Abi, her daughter, and Tina, a teen who comes under the influence of a militant terrorist faction. In different ways, they all confront, love and politics, tradition and modernity.”—The Millions (Most Anticipated Books of 2022)
“Following as three generations work to leave their painful legacies behind for the sake of their progeny, Days Come and Go is a multigenerational story about lost innocence—and about perseverance.” —Foreword Reviews
“Cameroonian writer Boum depicts a changing Cameroon through the lives of mothers and daughters.” —Publishers Weekly
“There’s something of Tolstoy’s War and Peace in this epic novel.…Anna and her family are archetypes of the tragedy of human existence, which may be the true subject of the talented novelist Hemley Boum’s work.” —Radio France Internationale
“Through a gallery of portraits of mothers and children struggling to survive in a patriarchal society in decline, in Days Come and Go, Hemley Boum mixes both intimate and expansive stories.” —Le Monde