Diaty Diallo is a poet and performer in addition to being a critically acclaimed novelist and her expansive creative vision is apparent in this stunning sophomore novel. It is a story about a group of boys whose lives are bounded and defined by violence, authoritarianism, and racism, but also by friendship, community, solidarity. The act of extreme violence that is the sparking point of the novel feels inevitable from the start. This is a conflagration waiting to alight.

But Diallo isn’t interested in just telling a story about trauma or subjugation. This is really a story about the way self-determination and love and kindness can flourish despite outside circumstances. She lingers on the boys’ tenderness, their resourcefulness, the weight and righteousness of their anger that would burn down the whole world if it could. In this sense, it reminded me of the film Divines (2016) by Houda Benyamina, which similarly centers around a moment of rupture, but is ultimately a story about the power of caring for each other in the face of a ruthless and neglectful world.

Deux secondes d’air qui brûle by Diaty Diallo, éditions du Seuil/Points

Click here to purchase this book with us.

Miriam Gordis

Miriam Gordis is Director of Albertine Books, succeeding Sandrine Butteau, who held the position from 2017-2024. Miriam has worked at Albertine as a Bookseller since January 2024. Prior to joining the store, she worked in book publishing, most recently as a Literary Scout at Maria Campbell Associates where she was in charge of scouting the French market. She has served as a reader for the Whiting Award for Nonfiction and for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. Miriam has a BA from the University of Oxford in Modern Languages and she has worked as a legal translator in Paris and as a copyeditor in Moscow. She is a lover of non-fiction, visual art, pilates, and sunshine.

Other recommendations by Miriam Gordis