A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali

The swimming pool of the Mille-Collines hotel is a magnet for a privileged group of Kigali residents: aid-workers, Rwandan bourgeoisie, soldiers, prostitutes and assorted expatriates. Among these patrons is the waitress Gentille, a beautiful Hutu often mistaken for a Tutsi, long admired by Valcourt, a Canadian journalist and film-maker. As the two test the water with a love affair, civil unrest in Rwanda makes insidious, inevitable progress. An immensely powerful, cathartic denunciation of poverty, ignorance, global apathy and media blindness. “A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali” is both a poignant love story and a stirring hymn to humanity – an essential read for anyone interested in exceptional literature of lasting value.

Reviews of A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali

* Astounding – It's no surprise that this book has won so many prizes. Daily Mail * Exceptional … you must read it. Sunday Times * Corrosive, denunciatory … and beautifully written. Le Devoir, Montreal * A voice that evokes humanity in all its depth and breadth, where the executioner and victim are brother and sister, where death is a daily occurrence. A voice I implore you to listen to … Through a felicitous mix of reportage and fiction, Courtemanche has powerfully portrayed a lucid character deeply engaged in a humanist quest. Le Journal de Montreal