Waiting for Tomorrow

Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan

2020 Longlist

Anita is waiting for Adam to be released from prison. They met twenty years ago at a New Year’s Eve party in Paris, a city where they both felt out of place—he as a recent arrival from the provinces, and she as an immigrant from the island of Mauritius. They quickly fell in love, married, and moved to a village in south western France, to live on the shores of the Atlantic with their little girl, Laura.

The arrival of Adèle, an undocumented immigrant from Mauritius whom they hire to care for Laura, sparks artistic inspiration for both Adam and Anita, as well as a renewed energy in their relationship. But this harmony will prove to be short-lived, brought down by their separate transgressions of Adèle’s privacy and a subsequently tragic turn of events

About the Author

Nathacha Appanah was born in Mahébourg, Mauritius. She is the author of the award-winning novel The Last Brother, which has been translated into sixteen languages. She works as a journalist and translator and lives in France.

Librarian’s Comments

Right from the prologue of her new compelling novel Nathacha Appanah immerses the reader in a real mystery repeating that a tragedy occurred four years, five months and thirteen days before, devastating the life of a couple, their daughter and their undocumented Mauritian nanny. The author gives deep psychological insights to her characters: the couple are artists who both feel out of place, striving to reconcile careers and arts, facing routine: the grieving nanny entering their lives and sparking their artistic inspiration.  The simple yet poetical narration reveals the shattered hopes and unfulfilled longings, and exposes the dangers creation may cause to others. The author tackles with accuracy and relevance, but not without irony, the strength of family bonds, the friendships wearing away, the deep-rooted prejudices. She deftly deals with those irretrievable moments when everything collapses. Bibliothèque publique d’information, France