num_pages: 368
description: The first novel from Madagascar ever to be translated into English Naivos magisterial Beyond the Rice Fields delves into the upheavals of the nations past as it confronted Christianity and modernity through the twin narratives of a slave and his masters daughter.Fara and her fathers slave Tsito have been close since her father bought the boy after his forest village was destroyed. Now in Sahasoa amongst the cattle and rice fields everything is new for Tsito and Fara at last has a companion. But as Tsito looks forward to the bright promise of freedom and Fara backward to a dark long-denied family history a rift opens between them just as British Christian missionaries and French industrialists arrive and violence erupts across the country. Love and innocence fall away and Tsito and Faras world becomes enveloped by tyranny superstition and fear.With captivating lyricism propulsive urgency and two unforgettable characters at the storys core Naivo unflinchingly delves into the brutal history of nineteenth-century Madagascar. Beyond the Rice Fields is a tour de force that has much to teach us about human bondage and the stories we tell to faceand hide fromourselves each other our pasts and our destinies.
language: English
title: Beyond the Rice Fields
publisher: Restless Books