Stopover in N’Djamena.

My novel The Girl in the Road is halfway through final edits. After that, it goes out to gamma readers.

On this day in 2026, Mariama Ndiyaye and Yvonne Sauvage walked into N’Djamena to look for sweets. They found some pistachio bars in a Lebanese supermarket, and took them to a public square near the grand mosque (above). They sat on the rim of a dry fountain and ate. Yvonne tried to explain to Mariama why she had left her wealthy parents in Dakar for an independent life in Addis Ababa. Being seven years old, Mariama didn’t really understand; but because she could feel how much Yvonne wanted her to, she said she did.