Satisfaction
Satisfaction is an intense, introspective novel that explores the intimate thoughts, feelings and impressions of Mme Akli, a French woman living in Algeria in the late 1970s. Mme Akli is a possessive mother in conflict with her own sexuality in a country that feels alien to her. The acquiescence of Catherine Bousba, mother of her son’s best friend Bruce, will cause a turmoil of emotional events. Through a narrative charged with sensuality and repressed passion, we navigate Mme Akli’s complex and paradoxical feelings towards her own son, Catherine, Bruce and the Algerian landscape. The representation of a troubled motherhood that echoes the tumultuous political situation of Algeria at the time, opens the story to wider community issues.
Nina Bouraoui
Nina Bouraoui (Rennes, 1967) is at the forefront of Francophone North African writing. She spent most of her childhood in Algeria and returned to France in 1980. She studied in Paris where she has been since. Her work has been critically acclaimed. Her early novel La Voyeuse interdite won the Prix du Livre Inter in 1991. In 2005, her book Mes Mauvaises Pensées was awarded the prestigious Prix Renaudot and in 2020 her book Otages received the Prix Anaïs Nin.
Translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, who is an award-winning translator who translates mostly literary fiction from French. Her translation of Nina Bouraoui’s All Men Want to Know (2021) was the recipient of a PEN Translates Award and her translation of Elisa Shua Dusapin’s Winter in Sokcho (2021) was the winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Other authors she has translated include Tahar Ben Jelloun, Vénus Khoury-Ghata and Ali Zamir. Her work has also appeared in Words Without Borders and Asymptote.