Magnificent! — Atiq Rahimi, Goncourt Prize winner for his novel SYNGUE SABOUR

An ode to intimate revolutions. — Madame Figaro

Osvalde Lewat’s visual writing captures the heroine’s dilemma, follows her thoughts and gestures, as if in close-up. — Le Monde

Osvalde Lewat enters literature with this first novel of remarkable vivacity. — Le Point

A modern tragedy where; everything sounds true. — Le Soir

An entry into literature that aims at the heart. — Page des Libraires

A very beautiful and good novel full of healthy anger. — ARTE “28 Minutes

Osvalde Lewat made a name for herself as a filmmaker through documentaries, but Les Aquatiques is her first novel. It is hard to believe, as this book is mastered. Everything rings true, the tone, the style, the life details, the many characters, all complex even when cartoonish. —
Michel Zink, de l’Académie Française / Le Figaro Littéraire

A powerful debut novel by Osvalde Lewat, a renowned documentary film-maker. A striking story leading to a new vision of the French-speaking African societies today. Les Aquatiques is set in a fictional African country and tells the coming of age story of Katme.

She is a woman in her early forties, married to a local politician whose life will be turned upside down when her husband’s political ambitions collide with her personal life: Her best friend, Samy, an artist whom she subsidizes is gay and will be thrown in jail because of her and her husband.

The consequences will be devastating for Samy and for Katme. Les Aquatiques is a universal story because it tells how this woman has to reinvent herself and how she will face up to the challenges life offers her. The writing is brutally honest, cynical, it also manages to be laugh out loud funny as well as totally heartbreaking. It is also a picture of modern-day Africa, the struggles for a more just society.