This is such an interesting setting and concept but the story did not come to life. Would have loved to love it!

Honestly I loved David Diops previous book and this was incredibly disappointing. Story was slow and I found that nothing much happened. Not for me

This was a compelling story, told in skilled, evocative prose with interesting characters, and a rich, interesting plot. The discussions surrounding Europe's relationship with Africa, the slave trade and the exploitation of native African commercial commodities was throught provoking and nuanced.

Where this book was let down for me was by the narrative style. I just don't like books where the narrative becomes the retelling of past events for an audience within the novel. And especially then when that narrative begins to retell a story of yet another character. The past tense nature of this creates barriers for me between what the characters are feeling and my reaction as a reader.

Also I couldn't understand why we never returned to Aglaé and her reactions to this hidden part of her deceased father's life. Why explain why he was like he was in terms of her relationship to her without then drawing back to her understanding of these revelations.

So ultimately this was a well told story but from the wrong angle which resulted in me struggling to understand what I should feel from my experience of reading.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

My initial impression was that this was a beautifully written book, and that impression remained until the end. There was something about the narrator's sombre tone that made me feel drawn in. It reminded me a little of Daphne du Maurier's books. As I carried on reading though, I found I didn't really stay connected to the story. Despite the writing being beautiful, I couldn't escape into the story as I would have liked to. I would still try another book by this author though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

Winner of the International Booker Prize David Diop returns with a novel that explores colonialism and the slave trade. Beyond the Door of No Return (translated by Sam Taylor) opens in France in the early 19th Century but the bulk of the novel is set in Senegal over fifty years earlier. The narrative focusses on a real person – botanist Michel Adanson - whose life work was to create a classification system for nature.
Beyond the Door of No Return opens with Adanson’s death in Paris. His daughter Aglaé takes possession of his effects and hidden in a cabinet she finds a notebook detailing an experience he had in Senegal in the 1740s. Adanson’s official travels and collections in Senegal are on the record but these “secret” diaries tell a very different, much more personal story and hint at why Adanson buried himself in his work on his return to France. While in Senegal on a collecting tour, Adanson is told of a woman called Maram who had been sold into slavery but who, rumour has it, has returned three years later. Accompanied by the teenage son of one of the local kings, Adanson sets out to find this woman, plus do a little spying for the French East India Company on the way. The bulk of the book is Adanson’s journey to find Maram and what happens when he does so, including her own tragic story. The nesting of stories places Maram’s tale squarely in the centre, echoing both forward and back and impacting on both the Adanson’s life and the life of his family.
The door of no return is a real place – it is the door through which slaves from Senegal passed on their way to the Americas. Through this story Diop tries to give an insight into the role of the French and English colonists in driving the slave trade but also the local politics that supported it. Even though through the eyes of a white man who does not accept the spiritual aspects of the events that he is a part of, Diop manages to give a nuanced view of the situation in Senegal at that time. This is particularly through Adanson’s interactions and conversations with Maram and his young companion Ndiak.
Beyond The Door of No Return is a powerful historical novel that is able to provide new insights into a time and place and once again expose the barbarity and hypocrisy of the slave trade, a terrible aspect of world history that should be continually remembered and continues to reverberate.

Beyond the Door of No Return focusses around Michel Adanson whose last word to his daughter, Aglaé, is the name of a woman she has never heard of, Maram. After Michel's death, Aglaé finds a notebook in which he recounts his travels to Senegal and the story of Maram who was abducted and has become a revenant in the village.

This book contained some very lyrical, beautiful lines and I thought the translation into English was done really well. The discussions around French colonialism, the white saviour complex and the effect on the Senegalese people were interesting as this is an era of history that I previously knew nothing about.

However compared to Diop's previous book, At Night All Blood is Black, this book fell very flat. I found it completely devoid of any emotion and the characters felt extremely one dimensional which consequently meant it was difficult to become invested in the story and I found the book a chore to get through. The plot moved incredibly slowly and it felt much longer than its 250 pages.

Overall I really didn't enjoy this book as I couldn't connect to the characters or the story and therefore I found this book quite tedious to get through.

David Diop's last English translated publication At Night All Blood is Black was a powerful tour de force of historical fiction set in WWI; this new book is as equally powerful and moving and clearly shines the light further onto the atrocities of colonialism in Africa and in particular 18th century Senegal.
The story is told through the writing of Michel Adanson- a botanist and a man whose past has never left him -in particular an expedition to Senegal in the 1750s. During his last few months of life he scribes this journey in the hope it will be found and read by his daughter so she can understand the man who didn't give her much love -as he was immersed in his world of plants and in many senses escaping the pain of the past.
This is part adventure story and part love story ; Michel hears the tale of a revenant- a young black woman- Maram- sold into slavery but is believed to have escaped capture and living within Senegal. The story of his journey to find her - accompanied by Ndiak , a young Prince, is dramatic and full of danger. The desire to find her is exquisitely told - not flinching from the cruelties of 'humankind'. Equally Maram's story of abduction and subsequent events is described to such extent that as a reader you wish her freedom, life and love.
Yes, this is a love story - of things unsaid and unspoken desires ; the unspeakable actions that divide people and the capacity of white europeans to exploit and abuse people but ultimately how two people can come to share a short time together. The implications/ramifications on Michel last a lifetime and impact on those around as he never believes he can fulfil his potential
This is an incredible book and highly recommended - one of the best reads of 2023. All credit to Sam Taylor's translation and for Pushkin publication for bringing another important book to a wider audience.