Repatriation

Annabella Morelli, born in Congo, lives in Lyon, studies at university and dreams of becoming a poet. When the news comes of her father's death, a French citizen who had gone to earn a living in Africa and stayed there forever, she decides to bring his body back - and faces bureaucracy, corruption, and a heavy family legacy (her mother, a Black woman, was forced to leave her small daughter and flee from domestic violence). Weaving together the autobiographical and the fictional, Guerra creates a narrative about experiencing loss and growing up: the protagonist moves between France, where she was happy in her childhood, and Africa, which holds the bitterness of memories. The book is full of references to the works of Albert Camus, Pierre Michon, Samuel Beckett, and António Lobo Antunes. The novel is marked by the Goncourt Prize for debut (2024).