Nathacha Appanah

Nathacha Appanah will discuss her powerful new book De nacht in het hart (publishing in late September), a searing examination of femicide.

De nacht in het hart reconstructs the shattered lives of three women, three victims of femicide. One of those stories is Appanah’s own: that of a “potential femicide,” had she not managed to escape her abusive partner just in time.

A young woman runs through the house trying to escape her partner. From a distance it looks almost like a game: they dodge each other, knocking over chairs. She flees into the street. He follows her in his car, accelerating, stopping, then accelerating again. Eventually, she gets in voluntarily. If I obey, perhaps I'll have another chance, she thinks. “That woman,” Nathacha Appanah writes, “is me.”

De nacht in het hart reconstructs the lives of three women destroyed by femicide. One of those stories is the author's own: she considers herself a “potential victim of femicide,” had she not broken free in time. Appanah examines family structures, social taboos, and the ways the media and society respond to violence against women. With precision and clarity, she exposes the mechanisms of patriarchal violence at every level of society, from the cultural elite to working-class communities. Balancing anger and shame, she explores the many forms of hidden violence that emerge when love gives way to darkness.

Nathacha Appanah (1973) is a French journalist and novelist, born and raised in Mauritius. She moved to France in 1998 and has published thirteen books since 2003. De nacht in het hart became an extraordinary bestseller in France and earned her some of the country's most prestigious literary honours, including the Prix Femina, the Prix Renaudot des Lycéens, and the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens. The book also received the Dutch Prix Goncourt des Lycéens des Pays-Bas.