Author Leila Slimani concluded her eight-year family saga with the release of “Carry the Fire,” (“Trag das Feuer weiter”),a novel exploring themes of migration,identity,and belonging.speaking at a sold-out event in Vienna on Monday, Slimani emphasized the importance of forging oneS own path, even when grappling with the weight of the past. The third installment in the series, translated into German by Amelie Thoma and published by Luchterhand, follows the grandchildren of a French-Moroccan family as they navigate complex relationships and a changing world.
“It’s part of life that things disappear, that the house, the memories burn. What do you do then? Do you look at the fire and cry? No, you take the fire with you and leave,” author Leila Slimani said Monday at a sold-out book presentation of “Trag das Feuer weiter” (Carry the Fire) at the Vienna Konzerthaus. “I believe,” Slimani continued, “that anyone who has experienced migration knows this. If you only look back and are nostalgic, it will never be possible to be free.”
With “Carry the Fire,” Slimani concludes her sweeping French-Moroccan family saga, a cycle she’s been working on for eight years. The first installment focused on the grandparents, the second on the parents, and now the story centers on the grandchildren, Mia and Ines Daoud. And, like its predecessors, the novel doesn’t shy away from difficult truths: “Don’t come back. This talk of roots just serves to nail you to the ground,” the father figure tells his daughter, urging her to forge her own path.
“A Beautiful, Large, Rich Book”
Table of Contents
Slimani’s books have become international bestsellers, praised for their compelling narratives despite tackling complex themes, thanks to her clear, accessible, and fluid writing style, beautifully rendered in German by Amelie Thoma.
“What a beautiful, large, rich book,” recently declared Die Zeit. Tagesspiegel called “Carry the Fire” “an entertaining family saga.”
Growing Up in a Golden Cage
The novel’s central narrative unfolds in the present day. A bout of Covid-19, which causes the French-based writer Mia to lose her language and memory, leads her back to Morocco, where she attempts to piece together her recollections. Mia and her sister Ines enjoyed a privileged upbringing on the outskirts of Morocco’s capital, Rabat, navigating a world of cocktail parties and farmworkers, Christmas and Ramadan, French elites and Moroccan traditions.
This internal conflict drives the novel’s narrative. Every character, from the Alsatian grandmother Mathilde to the housekeeper Fatima, who carries the attitudes of the upper class back to her own impoverished home, grapples with belonging and identity.
Sex, Unflinching Honesty, and Precise Psychology
The novel draws heavily from Slimani’s own family history: born in 1981, Slimani grew up in Rabat’s French-speaking upper class without learning Arabic, and moved to Paris in 1999, where she quickly established herself as a writer. Her debut novel, “Adieu la pudeur” (Goodbye to Purity) from 2014, featured a nymphomaniac protagonist and surprised critics with its explicit passages.
Slimani’s unflinching honesty and precise psychological insight also characterized her 2016 international bestseller, “Dans le jardin de l’ogre” (In the Ogre’s Garden), which brought “hidden fears to the surface,” according to critics at the time. The success of these novels cemented Slimani’s place as a leading voice in contemporary literature.
Hanging Out with the Cool Kids
In “Carry the Fire,” the intelligent teenager Mia navigates the social hierarchy of the elite Lycée Descartes in 1990s Rabat, working her way to the top and ultimately socializing with the “cool kids.” She is then brutally attacked by them for her homosexuality.
At the Vienna presentation, Slimani spoke of a lack of “moral orientation,” perhaps reflecting her own background. The liberal Daoud family drinks alcohol, eats pork, and doesn’t believe in God, all while maintaining a facade of respectability in the face of conservative societal norms and the all-powerful King Hassan II.
“You never know what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, possible or impossible, what you can say and what you can’t.” This division, she explained, is “difficult because it’s a little paranoid,” but ultimately leads to “an enormous ability to adapt to everything” – a sentiment she also applies to herself.
Mint Tea and Intrigue
The novel captures the atmosphere of Morocco in the 1980s and 90s from multiple perspectives, evoking the sounds and smells of both fear and security, comforting mint tea and malicious intrigue. The individual stories are skillfully interwoven, and the characters’ actions feel plausible within their historical context.
At the heart of the family dynamic lies Mia’s liberal, bookish father, Mehdi, who consistently hides his origins and whose successful banking career abruptly ends with a prison sentence. He’s a father who rarely has the right words, but always finds the right book to comfort his daughter.
The Father as an Enigma
“My father was actually a very, very enigmatic man, full of contradictions, full of secrets, full of silence. He lived as a riddle and died as a riddle,” Slimani said, reflecting on her own life. As an author, she passes these riddles on to her readers, leaving questions unanswered and loose ends untied. This approach ultimately creates a vibrant and emotionally resonant portrait of family and society.
