In the Belly of the Congo

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Chronological Overview of the Former Belgian Congo (1885–2005) Part One Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Part II Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Author’s Acknowledgments Translator’s Acknowledgments About the Authors Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Table of Contents Start Copyright Print Page List i ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix x xi xii xiii xiv xv xvi xvii xviii 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 
 
 
 
 PRAISE FOR
 IN THE BELLY OF THE CONGO
 “Ndala paints a compelling picture of his heroines…but as he moves between the 1950s and the early 2000s, he keeps his sights and his readers’ on the long-deferred reckoning of Belgium and Congo with their colonial past.”
 —Five Books, The Best Recent Novels from Francophone Africa
 “A harrowing story, beautifully told. Blaise Ndala’s searing depiction of the effects of Belgium’s mission civilisatrice in the Congo should send shivers of recognition down spines in any country shaped by European imperialism—including our own.”
 —Wayne Grady, author of Emancipation Day and The Good Father
 “Inside the belly of this masterfully crafted journey is a series of love stories reminiscent of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah in its love and study of community, people, and places. And with that much love comes a series of unflinching betrayals. Ndala’s work is exciting and heartbreaking in its exacting style. I left this book feeling deeply punctuated.”
 —Téa Mutonji, award-winning author of Shut Up You’re Pretty
 “Dynamic, sensuous, and intensely alive, 
 
 
 
 
 Originally published in French as Dans le ventre du Congo in 2021
 by Éditions du Seuil, Paris
 Copyright © Éditions du Seuil, 2021
 English translation copyright © Other Press, 2023
 Toni Morrison epigraph on page vii from Beloved, copyright © 1987 by Toni Morrison. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
 All rights reserved.
 Production editor: Yvonne E. Cárdenas
 Text designer: Jennifer Daddio / Bookmark Design & Media Inc.
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Other Press LLC, except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. For information write to Other Press LLC, 267 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Or visit our Web site: www.otherpress.com
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