“Beyond the Door of No Return” by David Diop

Here's a book that has the honor of being on the short list for the National Book Award for Translated Fiction this year. And really, seeing the list (five finalists in each category, the other four categories being fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult) makes me realize I must be reading all the wrong books. Not only have I not read any of the other twenty-four books; I hadn't even heard of them before nationalbook.org announced them.

So I'll just console myself with the fact that I have read this one! The story starts early in the nineteenth century with the protagonist on his deathbed, attended by his adult daughter from whom he'd been estranged for a large part of her life. Even if they'd always been close, however, he might not have told his daughter the formative story of his youth; anyway, the possibility is made moot by the fact that the formative story of his youth is the major reason Michel Adanson is not close to his daughter (or anyone, really). 

We learn Adanson's story along with his daughter, Aglaé, as she reads the memoir he had hidden for her where she would only find it if she truly cared for him. Adanson, a white French botanist, had traveled to Senegal at the age of twenty-three to collect specimens and make a name for himself as a scientist, but he found more than he bargained for: love and passion, and ultimately, tragedy. Hidden within his story is an attempt at explaining how someone who recognizes the horror and injustice of slavery could end up complicit in the very institution they abhor.

Expertly translated from the French by none other than my favorite traducteur (he's the best!), I would say this book is a shoo-in for the prize, though obviously I'm a poor judge, not having read the other four contenders. Fingers crossed, though!