Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye
When Marie NDiaye won the prestigious French Goncourt Prize for Literature in 2009, the novel Three Strong Women (Trois Femmes Puissantes) was incredibly popular with readers in France, but even more significant to the entire French public was the fact that Marie NDiaye became the first black woman winner of this award..
Three Strong Women follows the life stories of Norah, Fanta and Khady and their life trials and obstacles. Much like a three-part biographical novel (NDiaye is of Senegalese origin), the three lives intertwine somewhere in Europe and Africa - Nora returns to an African home and family she does not know, Fanta is a Senegalese living in France and shares a life with a paranoid and dangerous husband, and Khady spends years in miserable conditions and prostitution hoping to flee to France. Although at times it seems that the stories are unfinished (especially in the topics initiated by the author), NDiaye still manages to turn attention to problems such as misery, poverty, misogyny and racism as a global evil. Before her greatest success, NDiaye has published twenty novels and collections of short stories. She also won the 2001 Prix Femina for her book Rosie Carpe, and her 2003 play Papa doit manger was staged at La Comédie Française.
Three Strong Women brought its publisher Gallimard the 36th Goncourt Prize and NDiaye was among the winners as Simone de Beauvoir and Marguerite Duras.
