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
In 1980s’ Réunion, monsters lurk beneath the surface of vibrant island life, ready to pounce at the slightest disturbance
La Réunion in the 1980s: a place of high unemployment and low expectations, the legacy of postcolonialism. Here, a little girl makes a bid for escape from her sadistic parents’ reign of terror and turns to school for salvation.
The name Dessaintes is one to reckon with. A bombastic, violent and increasingly dangerous clan, little do they know that their downfall is being chronicled by one of their own.
Rich in the history of the island’s customs and superstition and driven by a wild, offbeat humour, this picaresque tale manages to satirise the very notion of freedom available in this French territory, and perhaps even the act of writing itself and where it might lead you.
Gaëlle Bélem
About the Author
Award-winning author Gaëlle Bélem is from La Réunion
Karen Fleetwood
About the Translator
Karen Fleetwood is a literary translator based in Scotland
Laëtitia Saint-Loubert
About the Translator
Laëtitia Saint-Loubert is a French literary translator and teacherIn 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
What the judges said
‘If there ever was a need to prove how a translation can vividly recreate a sense of place and time and personhood, Gaëlle Bélem’s There’s a Monster Behind the Door would be exhibit A, with translators Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert brought in to testify. In prose that throbs with verve, humour and pain, this narrative set on the island of Réunion brings to life a narrator beset with the history of her family and her people, who tries to use the power of language and literature to transcend her circumstances. While she fails within the story, the book succeeds – spectacularly – as a novel.’
