The Fire Within
Published on 17. December 2025
320 pages
978-1-915568-88-5 (ISBN)
Description
The Fire Within is the story of the surprising coming-of age of a Comorian servant girl who, from the start, is like no one else in her tropical island community. She becomes obsessed with a mysterious aristocratic woman who introduces her to a world of shape-shifting and parallel realities. Their adventures together become dangerous when the woman's husband finds out and reveals disturbing secrets about his wife.
By turns lyrical, shocking, erotic and magical, infused with legend and Islamic teachings, the novel gives an insight into a little-known country that is a melting-pot of global influences. It was the winner of the Prix Alain Spiess du deuxième roman 2022. Le Monde called it 'the kind of novel that instantly reminds you why literature exists.'
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Touhfat Mouhtare grew up between her island and several other Sub-Saharan African nations. Today she lives in France where she studied foreign languages at the Sorbonne.
Her first novel, Vert cru (KomEdit) was published in 2018, and she is the author of the short story collection Âmes supendues (Coelacanthe, 2011).
She has also written poetry.
