An extract from There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert
In 1980s’ Réunion, monsters lurk beneath the surface of vibrant island life, ready to pounce at the slightest disturbance
Laëtitia Saint-Loubert
Laëtitia Saint-Loubert is a French literary translator and teacher
A literary translator since 2012, Laëtitia Saint-Loubert previously worked at the Université de La Réunion, teaching translation and Caribbean literature. She lives in France, where she teaches translation and Translation Studies at Nantes University. Her first monograph, The Caribbean in Translation: Remapping Thresholds of Dislocation (Oxford, Peter Lang), was published in 2020.
Together with Karen Fleetwood she is the co-translator of There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
In prose that throbs with verve, humour and pain, this story set on the island of Réunion brings to life a narrator beset with the history of her family and her people
— The 2025 judges on There's a Monster Behind the Door
All nominated books
In 1980s’ Réunion, monsters lurk beneath the surface of vibrant island life, ready to pounce at the slightest disturbance
By Gaëlle Bélem
Translated by Karen Fleetwood Laëtitia Saint-Loubert
