Description

---

The paths of a Canadian documentary filmmaker and two former rebel soldiers from the Congo collide in this searing revenge tale about those who profit from the misery of others.

Los Angeles, 2002. Véronique Quesnel accepts the Best Documentary Oscar for Sona: Rape and Terror in the Heart of Darkness, basking in the praise of her privileged audience. She has drawn attention to “the center of gravity that is Black tragedy,” which attracted her away from her life in Montréal, and to the harrowing story of Sona, a young woman who escaped sex slavery. But this lauded film has also shone a dangerous spotlight on Véronique herself.

In the Great Lakes region of Africa, Master Corporal Red Ant and his cousin Baby Che are stalking the remnants of the Second Congo War—the deadliest conflict since World War II. In search of the truth and vengeance, their obsession now has a name.

About the Author

---

Blaise Ndala is a Canadian writer originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His debut novel, J’irai danser sur la tombe de Senghor, won the Ottawa Book Award for French fiction and was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. His book Yellow Book of Illusions won the 2019 Combat des livres and was a finalist for the Grand prix littéraire d’Afrique noire and the Trillium Book Award. His novel In the Belly of the Congo was published by Other Press in 2023.

Dimitri Nasrallah is the author of four novels. He was born in Lebanon in 1977, and lived in Kuwait, Greece, and Dubai before moving to Canada. His internationally acclaimed books have won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize, and garnered nominations for Canada Reads, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal. He is the fiction editor at Véhicule Press.