A young woman born in the suburbs of Paris - whose skin colour and memories of occasional childhood visits alone connect her to her father's native Guadeloupe - yearns to understand her lineage and her metis identity. Upon her request, her old aunt Antoine, the eccentric and indomitable family matriarch, unveils the history of the Ezechiel clan, and with it, that of the island over the course of the twentieth century. In a spirited account, punctuated by interludes from other family members, Antoine tells her life story: a childhood spent deep in the countryside; an ill-fated romance between her upper-class mother and farmer father; the splendors and slums of the capital city, Pointe-a-Pitre; the eruption of modernity; the rifts in a deeply hierarchical society under colonial rule - and the reasons she left it all behind. Through the unforgettable story of the Ezechiels, a richly textured account of the Guadeloupean diaspora emerges, spanning decades and crossing the Atlantic. With lush language and vivid storytelling, Estelle-Sarah Bulle's Where Dogs Bark with Their Tails examines the legacies of capitalism and colonialism, the loss of a beloved mother, what it means to be caught between worlds, and how we might reconcile past, present, and future.

The tales of one family and their larger-than-many-lives sister, Antoine, weaves together the vibrant, epic story of Guadaloupe and its diaspora.

About the Author
Estelle-Sarah Bulle was born in Creteil, France, in 1974 to a West Indian father and a Belgian mother. She studied in Paris and Lyon and now resides in Val-d'Oise, France. Where Dogs Bark with Their Tails is her first novel and was awarded the Prix Stanislas and the Prix Carbet de la Caraibe et du Tout-Monde. Julia Grawemeyer is an American educator, translator, and writer whose translations have been published by Schaffner Press and the Kenyon Review. She teaches French and intercultural communication to middle school students in Columbus, Ohio.


Book Information
ISBN 9780374289096
Author Estelle-Sarah Bulle
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Weight(grams) 418g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 146mm * 27mm