Far from My Father

To attain some sort of universal value,"" Vronique Tadjo has said, ""a piece of work has to go deep into the particular in order to reveal our shared humanity."" In Far from My Father, the latest novel from this internationally acclaimed author, a woman returns to the Cte d'Ivoire after her fathers death. She confronts not only unresolved family issues that she had left behind but also questions about her own identity that arise amidst the tensions between traditional and modern worlds. The drama that unfolds tells us much about the evolving role of women, the legacy of polygamy, and the economic challenges of daily life in Abidjan. On a more autobiographical level, the author depicts a daughters efforts to come to terms with what she knew and did not know about her father. Set against the backdrop of civil strife that has wracked the Cte d'Ivoire since the turn of the century, this story shows Tadjos remarkable ability to inhabit a characters inner world and emotional landscape while creating a narrative of great historic and cultural dimensions.