Confrontations

A bold, unsettling, and heart-breaking story about race, belonging and the legacies of violence

Confrontations unpicks the stitches of a young life prematurely defined by violence. Crime, punishment, privilege and racism are explored with the unsentimental, stark precision of a poet's pen. Simone Atangana Bekono is one to watch.

One of the best debuts I've read in years. Atangana Bekono's raw scenes are written with enormous tenderness." Do you see it now?" she asks you. And leaves you with a broken heart

A tightly wound, forcefully lyrical debut novel by an award-winning Dutch poet ... A psychological mystery whose solution resides in self-discovery.

Confrontations is a moving study of how quietly pivotal events build over time to fuel rage. Simone Atangana Bekono immerses us in the different worlds Salome navigates, gripping us through the character's distinctive voice. There is a tender stubbornness she possesses, and it sealed my attention from the start. I sighed with Salome, laughed with her, dreamt with her, was frustrated for her. This novel will compel you to reconsider what rehabilitation means, and will follow you beyond the final page.

Confrontations tackles heavy subject matter with nuance and empathy, following its complicated protagonist as she grapples with trauma and her sense of self.

A sensitive, moving, and insightful story about an incarcerated teenage girl coming to terms with her social identity, self-understanding, and dreams. The writing captures, believably, the thoughts of a young person facing the devastation of her confinement and what led up to it. Oscillating between unfiltered expression and philosophical realization, and with moments of utter beauty, Bekono captures the anguish of degradation, the desperation of rage, and the loneliness of Salomé's experience at the margins of two cultures.

In the pages of Simone Atangana Bekono's daring, beautifully-written and incredibly observant novel, Confrontations, you'll meet the main character, Salomé, who pays a high price for standing up for herself and the people she loves. Each of Bekono's characters are drawn with so much acuity and honesty. I love this page turner and the colorful cast of characters who populate it.

Trapped between antagonism and erasure, Salomé searches for a way to turn something destructive into something positive

Tough but important ... a beautiful debut

A compact explosive device, and a brisk eye-opening narrative. The prison narrative involves a timely meditation on crime and its consequences, while simultaneously calling into question the redemptive arc associated with the genre ... at once tender, crass, intellectual, and rebellious

Sharp, voice-driven narration ... This one's hard to put down

Simone Atangana Bekono studied Creative Writing at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem. In 2017 her poetry collection How the First Sparks Became Visible came out and was awarded the Poëziedebuutprijs Aan Zee for best first collection in 2018. The collection was published in the UK by Emma Press in January 2021. The major Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant listed her as one of the 3 literary talents twice, for the year 2020 and 2021. Confrontations is her first novel. Suzanne Heukensfeldt Jansen's wide-ranging translation career began with comic strips for Marvel Comics whilst at college. Over the past decade or so, her focus has been on literary fiction and non-fiction. Her most recent translation is Colonial Congo - A History in Questions, a major survey of the Belgian colonial past.