From Marie NDiaye, the first black woman to win the Prix Goncourt, a harrowing and beautiful novel of the travails of West African immigrants in France. As the three women’s lives intertwine, each woman manages an astonishing feat of self-preservation against those who have made themselves the fastest-growing and most-reviled people in Europe. In NDiaye’s stunning narration, we see the progress by which ordinary women discover unimagined reserves of strength.