num_pages: 328
description: The first novel to be translated from Wolof to English Doomi GoloThe Hidden Notebooks is a masterful work that conveys the story of Nguirane Faye and his attempts to communicate with his grandson before he dies. With a narrative structure that beautifully imitates the movements of a musical piece Diop relates Fayes trauma of losing his only son Assane Tall which is compounded by his grandson Badous migration to an unknown destination. While Faye feels certain that his grandson will return one day he also is convinced that he will no longer be alive by then. Faye spends his days sitting under a mango tree in the courtyard of his home reminiscing and observing his surroundings. He speaks to Badou through his seven notebooks six of which are revealed to the reader while the seventh the Book of Secrets is highly confidential and reserved for Badous eyes only. In the absence of letters from Badou the notebooks form the only possible means of communication between the two carrying within them tunes and repetitions that give this novel its unusual shape: loose and meandering on the one hand coherent and tightly interwoven on the other. 
language: English
title: Doomi Golo―The Hidden Notebooks
publisher: Michigan State University Press