Jacaranda // A Novel

A young man journeys from Paris to Rwanda to discover the truth about his familys past in this bestselling, prize-winning novel from internationally renowned Rwandan-French novelist and hip-hop artist Gal Faye.

Gal Fayes talent is breathtaking.Imbolo Mbue, author ofBehold the Dreamers

Milanthe twelve-year-old son of a French father and a Rwandan motherblames flunking his exams on the emotional toll of the genocide in his mothers homeland. In truth, his mother never talks about Rwanda; the violence is an abstraction that only reaches their French suburb through television broadcasts. That is, until Milan meets Claude, a small boy with a bandaged head whom Milans mother introduces as a cousin who has come to France seeking medical treatment. Milan embraces him as the brother hes always wanteduntil, one day, Claude is sent back to Rwanda without warning, leaving him heartbroken and confused.

Four years later, the boys reunite as teenagers when Milan visits Rwanda for the first time with his mother in the wake of her divorce and discovers a more fractured and vibrant community than he could have imagined. But the trip raises more questions for him than it answersabout family, the war, and its aftershocks. Over the course of many years, Milan will return to Rwanda again and again, compelled to unearth the secrets that have taken root in the shadows of long silences, confront the past, and imagine a new future.

Partly inspired by acclaimed author Gal Fayes own relationship with Rwanda and its history,Jacarandais a rich and deeply felt portrait of a man seeking to understand his family and his nation as it heals from the unthinkable.

Gal Fayewas born in 1982 in Burundi to a French father and Rwandan mother. In 1995, after the outbreak of the civil war and the Rwandan genocide, the family moved to France. An author, songwriter, and hip-hop artist, he released his first solo album,Pili Pili sur un croissant au beurre,in 2013. His first novel,Small Country,was an international bestseller awarded numerous literary prizes, including the Prix Goncourt des Lycens.

Sarah Ardizzoneis a translator of diverse French-speaking voices. She has received the Scott Moncrieff Prize twice, the Marsh Award twice, and aNew York TimesNotable Book accolade. She was appointed Chevalier de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres in 2022 and made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024.

• Publisher: Hogarth
• Publish Date: August 25, 2026
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• Type: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9780593979617
• Dimensions: 8.3 X 5.5 X 0.7 inches | 0.75 pounds
• BISAC Categories: Literary Fiction, Popular Fiction