A poignant coming-of-age story about exile and war in everyday life.

Hassan, ten years old, lives with his family in Bacongo, a district of the capital of Congo Brazzaville. Coming from a wealthy family, he attends a private school, La Martelle.

Life goes on, despite the still-smoldering embers of the 1997 war that left the country deeply divided. Everything changes on December 18, 1998, the day the third civil war breaks out.

Hassan and his family abandon their home and take to the road like hundreds of thousands of other Congolese, to flee the fighting and find refuge in neighboring Zaire. During this long 400km journey on foot through the equatorial forest and the hills of Pool, Hassan and his family will be confronted with famine, disease and death.

H. F. Diané (pen name of Hassan Fodé Diané Loukaku) is a writer from Congo where he spent his childhood until the age of eleven. In 1999, he moved to France due to the civil war in Congo-Brazzaville. Over the years, he moved to several French cities, including Dijon, Nice, Paris and Orléans. In 2011, he began studying applied foreign languages at the Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier where he lives today. After his studies, he decided to devote himself fully to his passion for writing. He is the author of a successful series of children’s books, Le Monde merveilleux des Florafées (Flamm Jeunesse).