24-year-old Ahlème (her name means 'dream' in Arabic) lives with her father, The Boss. He is half the man he was, since an accident on his building site stopped him working. Then there's Ahlème's brother, 16-year-old Foued, excluded from school and getting drawn into the world of drug-dealing on Uprising Estate. Ahlème battles with her family, the struggles and queues that come with being an immigrant, and the guilt-trips of distant relatives 'back home'. But when she returns - after a ten-year absence - to the country where her mother was massacred at a village wedding, she brokers a kind of truce, both with her homeland, and with the need to forge a future. Along the way, she stamps on that mythical version of Metropolitan France, a desperate fabrication put out by economic and political migrants and readily bought into by those left behind in Algeria. Dreams from the Endz is an extraordinary achievement: outspoken and sobering but - crucially - laced with the author's hallmark wit. Faiza Guene illuminates the impact of politics on everyday lives, acting as the nation's eyes and ears in places many would never dare to go, weaving unforgettable tales across barriers.
Author
Faïza Guène is a French writer and director. Born to parents of Algerian origin, she grew up in Pantin, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris. She attended Collège Jean Jaurès followed by Lycée Marcelin Berthelot in Pantin. She began studies in sociology at Université Paris VIII, in St-Denis, before abandoning them to pursue writing and directing full-time. Her first novel, "Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow" was published in 2004 when Guène was nineteen years old. The novel has sold over 200,000 copies and been translated into twenty-two different languages, and paved the way for her following work, "Some Dream for Fools" (2006) and "Les gens du Balto" (2008). Guène has also written for "Respect" magazine since 2005 and directed several short films, including "Rien que des mots" (2004).
