French novel, bw love
| Monday October 13, 2014 15:11
The french novel, set in Gaborone and Maun, tells the story of a couple that mistakenly thought their love to be invincible. Politics, corruption and sickness threatens to get the best of them, but to save their love and lives, the couple decided to take refuge on Chief’s Island in the Okavango Delta. Lippe de Thoisy said the theme of the book was betrayal.
She added that her writing is influenced by everyday life and that once she has an idea on what to write, she puts it to paper. She said it took her four years to write the book because she often had to take a break to attend to work commitments.
“This novel is about romance. It is about a Motswana man who was a politician and got married to a French woman. “The couple had two children but betrayal and deceit nearly tore the family apart,” she added. Lippe de Thoisy said the story was based on the couple’s troubled past, touching on how her husband, driven by greed and stupidity, led the family to lose everything, she said.
When the woman tells her story, the couple had been living on the Island for years where nature took part in healing the family.
The author told the gathering that since she has been living in Botswana for 12 years now, she loves its beauty and the Okavango delta is one of her favourite locations in the country.
She said the beauty of the environment and vegetation at the delta influenced the story L’Ile des Rois.
“The story is based on thoughts and memories of the woman on what brought them to the middle of nowhere.
“In this story, you find that I have used animals such as elephants, hippos, water and vegetation to symbolise some aspects of life. This is also to show that the beauty of nature can save people when they let it,” she added.
She said that water rising high does not pose danger, but symbolises how it can cleanse people and mend broken hearts. She highlighted that in French, water was maternal and that it is used to heal. In the story, when the couple decided to leave Gaborone, they could not reach their destination because the sick man was tired and a huge elephant was in their way.
She said the elephant was used as a metaphor as it blocked the couple from moving, only for them to slowly be fascinated by the elephant and beauty of the Island where they decided to build their new home. She said the elephant was the gate between their past and new life as it told the couple to live their old life, find a way to forgive each other and move on with their lives.
Even though the couple tried to build a fence, the elephants were always there to destroy it. This showed that the elephants accepted that they could live with humans but do not want them to build a barrier between them, she added.
The book is rich in many elements of literature such as metaphor, simile, personification and others.
Many French speakers who graced the event showed a great interest in the book and vowed to support Lippe de Thoisy.
They asked her to translate the book in either Setswana or English so that it could inspire Batswana women, especially because it talks about their daily challenges. Lippe de Thoisy was born in France but grew up in South America and the Caribbean. She is the second on a family of seven children and currently works as a telecom engineer.
She came to Botswana on an expert contract.
“I knew nothing about this country, I just wanted to come to Africa. Twelve year later, I am still there.
“I am now a consultant in business management. I am married, my husband is a Motswana, and we have 2 kids.
“I have always travelled, I love exploring the world, and I love nature. I am a passionate reader, and writer,” she said.