Dreams from the Endz is the story of twenty-four-year-old Ahlème, who is spirited, sassy and wise but has more problems than she knows how to deal with. Her father, The Boss, is permanently disabled after an accident on a building site, her sixteen-year-old brother, Foued, has been permanently excluded from school and seems intent on joining the drug-dealers who share their estate, while she is left to deal with the guilt trips from their family back in Algeria. But when she returns home – after a ten-year absence – she brokers a kind of truce, both with her homeland and the need to forge a future.
Faïza Guène has written a witty, sassy and tender book about a young woman living in the suburbs of Paris. But Dreams from the Endz is much more than that – in exploring the life of an Algerian immigrant in the French capital, Faïza illuminates the impact of politics on everyday lives, seeking out the stories that many would not dare to tell, weaving unforgettable tales across barriers. She gives voice to the thoughts and experiences of someone who could otherwise have gone unheard.
‘[Guène is] super-young, super-cool and fast becoming known as one of the hottest literary talents of multicultural Europe’
Sunday Telegraph
