Born in 1986 in Moroni, Comoros, Touhfat Mouhtare grew up between her island and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Came to France to continue her studies, she now lives in the Val-d’Oise. She is the author of two books published in the Comoros: a collection of short stories, suspended souls (Coelacanth, 2011), and a novel, raw green (KomEdit, 2018, special mention of the Island Book Prize at the Ouessant fair).
” A young servant in the town of Itsandra, Comoros, Gaillard grew up under the protection of two parental figures : his master, who teaches him the Koran, and his adoptive mother, who tells him the legends inherited from his slave ancestors who came from the other side of the sea. One day, in Ahmad’s wood, Gaillard meets Halima, a young well-born girl trying to escape a forced marriage. They become friends, to the point that before returning to submit to the paternal will, Halima entrusts Gaillard with a small object that she will have to keep without ever showing it.
Ten years later, when Gaillard suffered a terrible mutilation, the destinies of the young women intersect again. Halima reveals the secrets of the precious object : it contains knowledge buried in the memory of the world and holds the power to make them travel through space and time, in search of what they really are.
In this clear poetry training novel, Touhfat Mouhtare blends raw realism, lush imagination and benevolent spirituality to weave a fabulous ode to love and freedom. » (Presentation of the editions The noise of the world)
♦BONUS : to listen to the unpublished extract where Touhfat Mouhtare tells the legend of five princes :
BONUS TOUHFAT MOUHTARE: The legend of the 5 princes
♦ CHRONICLE “ Books » by Baptiste Touverey who presents his article entitled Arthur, Lancelot and all the others about the publication of the volume The Knights of the Round Table, Arthurian novels, presented by Martin Aurelle and Michel Pastoureau (Gallimard).