Grand Menteur

By (author): Jean Marc Ah-Sen

Globe and Mail Best 100 Book of 2015

The secret world of Mauritian street-gangs is not for the faint of heart. Fraught with peril and mischief, its inner workings are a mystery to the daughter of one of its most valued members: Serge, the Grand Menteur. A liar of exceptional caliber whose sole responsibility is to purposefully confuse police with alibis, the Menteur fears for the criminal future he has unwittingly introduced into his daughter’s life, when her clear knack for violence attracts the notice of senior gang members.

Mauritian Kreol, English, and French blend together into a heady brew of language in Grand Menteur. Written in a nuanced style reflecting the island-nation’s convoluted history of colonialism, this debut novel by Jean Marc Ah-Sen sheds an unflinching light on the poverty and down-and-out hardship of a shadow class of immigrants from the 1940s to the ’80s.

Their story, with elements of child/parent relations and the tumultuous emotions tied to leaving home for greener pastures, will resonate with readers familiar with diasporic fiction, adventure and travelogue writing, and ‘lock, stock and barrel’ British crime fiction.

AUTHOR

Jean Marc Ah-Sen

Jean Marc Ah-Sen was born in East York, Ontario, in 1987. He comes from a family of Mauritian winemakers and was a frequent contributor to the Innis Herald, a University of Toronto newspaper. He lives in Toronto with his wife and son. Grand Menteur is his first novel. Find Ah-Sen on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jeanmarcahsen) or Twitter @jeanmarcahsen.

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Details

Dimensions:

208 Pages
8.10in * 5.30in * .50in
.57lb
260.00gr

Published:

October 20, 2015

Publisher:

Book*hug Press

ISBN:

9781771661300

Book Subjects:

FICTION / Crime

Featured In:

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Language:

eng

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