Cécé is irresistible as the Boswell of the Cité and its residents: 'The unhinged (all too plentiful), the drunks, the junkies, people crippled by the last earthquake, the blind, the departed, the grieving.' Yet amid the district’s desperation, she reflects on how she 'couldn’t help thinking about the generosity that resisted the incredible violence, poverty and indifference.' Her arresting and lyrical chronicle amounts to an astonishing and deeply human story of resilience. It’s unforgettable.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Cécé, the narrator of this stark, unflinching novel from veteran novelist Prophète, opens her story nine months after the death of her grandmother. That event represents not just the loss of a loved one but the disruption of her entire social order: Her mother, an addict, died when she was 2, and her only remaining relative is an alcoholic uncle. That leaves her at the mercy of the gangs in her town . . . The novel can be read as a parable about the perils of influencer culture . . . But it’s most bracing as a portrait of the consequences of a young woman’s relentless abuse, in the tradition of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets or The Bluest Eye.
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Cécé vividly depicts the slums of contemporary Haiti via a very online young sex worker who lives her best life on Facebook. A little gem of a book.
—Zadie Smith, The Guardian
Immersed in the atmosphere and people of a Haitian cité, Prophète’s titular protagonist attempts to claw a life for herself out of the hands of gangs, junkies, grandmothers, and preachers. With her morbid internet following on one side and the pressures of sex work on the other, Cécé is an imperfect and deeply human testament to female resiliency.
—Sam L. Spratford, The Millions
Emmelie Prophète creates an intricate, honest, and achingly beautiful rendering of Port-au-Prince from the point of view of a bright young woman archiving it all. With stunning prose, Prophète constructs a fully realized world with its terrors and its tenderest people. This is a gift of a book.
—Leila Mottley
Cécé feels like the arrival of a bold new talent, and its heroine’s voice, amplified by Aidan Rooney’s sparkling translation, is fresh and full of passionate energy as it rips open a whole new view of Haiti’s tormented earth.
—Madison Smartt Bell
The best book on Haiti in a very long time ... powerful, spot on, likely the best written. This splendid writer's talent grabs us by the throat from the start, tightens the grip with each chapter, relaxes later on, then grips us again at the end, leaving us speechless.
—Dany Laferrière
Emmelie Prophète renders the lives of others, particularly women, in tight prose and sharp narration.
—Yves Chemla, Le National
This audacious novelist invests her heroine with glory as she narrates on the social networks the lives of women from the cité. Totally believable, an indelible voice.
—Valérie Marin La Meslée, Le Point
A powerful, breathtaking novel with a diverse cast of ordinary people, this book tattoos onto our memory.
—Ricot Marc Sony, Le Nouvelliste
Emmelie Prophète's fifth novel is immediately gripping. The writing borrows its descriptive immediacy from journalism and the characters confront the day to day grind of existence. A compelling read.
—Anne Bocandé, Jeune Afrique
An extraordinary novel. The female characters are striking in their radiance.
—Michel Désautels, Désautels le Dimanche
