Osvalde Lewat's Second Novel Follows a Tailor from Paris to a Fictional African Homeland

Osvalde Lewat's new novel, "Un Corps indocile," has been reviewed favorably by Le Temps, which calls it a very successful second book from the author of "Les Aquatiques," winner of the 2022 Prix Kourouma.

The novel follows Dieunedort Deffo Deffo, a young fashion designer trying to make his name in Paris, where he runs an atelier named Route du Haut Fenn in tribute to his home region. Deffo comes from Zambuena, the invented country Lewat first created for "Les Aquatiques." According to Le Temps, the book opens with the revelation that Deffo has killed a man, and the narrative then works to explain how he got there and what follows, in a storyline described as moving at a sustained pace with the same ironic verve as her debut.

The book is structured around two intertwined narrative threads, per the review: one in italics, poetic and at times obscure, tracing events backward from the killing; the other following the designer forward from Paris to Dengfeshan, by way of Zambuena, toward what Le Temps describes as a somewhat chaotic but dynamic redemption.

In his Paris workshop, Deffo creates rare pieces from costly, difficult-to-work traditional fabrics for a clientele he can afford to be selective about — a business model that leaves his finances precarious, the review notes. He is in love with Merveille, described as a tall, free-spirited, playful young woman of mixed Belgian-Congolese heritage born into wealth. His situation is complicated by a groin pain that slows his work and affects his virility, sending him through a succession of healers: first his aunt, with traditional remedies, then an array of expensive and ineffective Parisian specialists. Resigned, he eventually sells his atelier and returns home to face the bwiti initiation ritual, according to Le Temps.