Days Come and Go

“One of the most powerful books I’ve read this year.” —Jennifer Martin, Tattered Cover Bookstore

“Thought-provoking with contrasting politics & ideals, Days Come & Go is about mothers & daughters & the power of universal love. The novel’s non-linear narrative knocks away expectations & encourages you to listen to Boum’s women & understand what compels them.” —Michelle Morris, Fort Worth Library (Fort Worth, TX)

“A bold, beautiful, & breathtaking accomplishment of a book.” —Anna Claire Weber, White Whale Bookstore

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WINNER OF THE 2020 AHMADOU KOUROUMA PRIZE

Chronicling the beauty & turmoil of a rapidly changing Cameroon, Days Come & Go is the remarkable story of three generations of women both within & beyond its borders. Through the voices of Anna, a matriarch living out her final days in Paris; Abi, Anna’s thoroughly European daughter (at least in her mother’s eyes); & Tina, a teenager who comes under the sway of a militant terrorist faction, Boum’s epic is generous & all-seeing.

Brilliantly considering the many issues that dominate her characters’ lives—love & politics, tradition & modernity—Days Come and Go, in Nchanji Njamnsi’s vivid translation, is a page-turner by way of Frantz Fanon & V. S. Naipaul. As passions rise, fall, & rise again, Boum’s stirring English-language debut offers a discerning portrait of a nation that never once diminishes the power of everyday human connection.

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Hemley Boum is the author of four novels, including Les Maquisards, which received the Grand prix littéraire de l’Afrique Noire, & Days Come & Go (Les jours viennent et passent), winner of the Prix Amadou Kourouma, which has been translated into both German & Dutch.

Nchanji Njamnsi previously co-translated a short story featured in Your Feet Will Lead You Where Your Heart Is, a bilingual anthology published in 2020.