Small Country

By Gaël Faye,

Book cover of Small Country

Book description

An international sensation, Small Country is a beautiful but harrowing tale of coming-of-age in the face of civil war.

'A luminous debut novel...Faye dramatises the terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war' Guardian

Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked Small Country as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sometimes fiction, with its knack for getting under the skin, is the best way of grasping the human impact of something as psychologically earth-shaking as mass murder. Set in the early 1990s, this novel’s narrator is the son of a French father and Rwandan mother, living in Bujumbura, just across the border from Rwanda. Inevitably the mass killings spill over into Burundi, exacerbating existing tensions between Hutus and Tutsis there and shattering an already precariously-poised family. I get the impression this book sold well in both French and English, and I’m not surprised. Under its deceptively simple surface, it packs…

Want books like Small Country?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 90 books like Small Country.

Browse books like Small Country

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in war, genocide, and Rwanda?

War 2,016 books
Genocide 90 books
Rwanda 18 books