Description

Salome was bullied for years and no one did a single thing to help her.
One day she finally snapped.
Now at just sixteen years old, she’s being held in a secure unit for young offenders

Salome’s counsellor, the man whose good opinion is key to her release, is best known for his racist gaffes on reality TV. Her father has recently been diagnosed with liver cancer and her elder sister Miriam’s main preoccupation is to get out of their small, close-minded village as soon as possible. Both at home and in the unit, things are unbearably tense.

Salome finds it hard to keep her temper and harder still to think about the crime she is charged with committing. But as time passes, she finds new strength to delve into the reasons for her rage and arrive at her own understanding of punishment, penitence and the paradoxical demands made on her existence as a Black woman. Raw and unsentimental, Confrontations is a powerful depiction of racism and resilience from one of the Netherlands’ most exciting new literary voices.

Publisher Review

Confrontations unpicks the stitches of a young life prematurely defined by violence. Crime, punishment, privilege and racism are explored with the unsentimental, stark precision of a poet's pen. Simone Atangana Bekono is one to watch. -- Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller One of the best debuts I've read in years. Atangana Bekono's raw scenes are written with enormous tenderness." Do you see it now?" she asks you. And leaves you with a broken heart -- Hanna Bervoets, author of We Had to Remove This Post A tightly wound, forcefully lyrical debut novel by an award-winning Dutch poet ... A psychological mystery whose solution resides in self-discovery. * Kirkus * Confrontations is a moving study of how quietly pivotal events build over time to fuel rage. Simone Atangana Bekono immerses us in the different worlds Salome navigates, gripping us through the character's distinctive voice. There is a tender stubbornness she possesses, and it sealed my attention from the start. I sighed with Salome, laughed with her, dreamt with her, was frustrated for her. This novel will compel you to reconsider what rehabilitation means, and will follow you beyond the final page. -- Theresa Lola, author of In Search of Equilibrium Confrontations tackles heavy subject matter with nuance and empathy, following its complicated protagonist as she grapples with trauma and her sense of self. -- Jeremiah Emmanuel, author of Dreaming in a Nightmare A sensitive, moving, and insightful story about an incarcerated teenage girl coming to terms with her social identity, self-understanding, and dreams. The writing captures, believably, the thoughts of a young person facing the devastation of her confinement and what led up to it. Oscillating between unfiltered expression and philosophical realization, and with moments of utter beauty, Bekono captures the anguish of degradation, the desperation of rage, and the loneliness of Salome's experience at the margins of two cultures. -- Erin I. Kelly, Pulitzer Prize Winning co-author of Chasing Me to My Grave In the pages of Simone Atangana Bekono's daring, beautifully-written and incredibly observant novel, Confrontations, you'll meet the main character, Salome, who pays a high price for standing up for herself and the people she loves. Each of Bekono's characters are drawn with so much acuity and honesty. I love this page turner and the colorful cast of characters who populate it. -- De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of Decent People and In West Mills