Daring to Speak Its Name
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            In the novel, Bessem is a university professor who is still mourning the loss of her first love, Fati, who disappeared thirteen years ago while they both were still in college. She goes in search of Fati, joined by her gay friend Jamal. After several dead ends, Bessem knows she will have to engage with Fati’s brother Mahamadou, who had beaten and jailed Fati for her lesbianism. He is now a respected and married imam. Though he still sparks fear in Bessem, she decides to visit his mosque and engage him by telling him that she would like to become Muslim. Despite memories of his abuse towards Fati, which continue to haunt her, and even knowing that he could report her, she continues meeting with him ostensibly about the proposed conversion.

            Bessem reveals many of these memories in the letters she writes to Fati, which refer to harrowing details about what Fati had to endure at the hands of her family. By associating with Mahamadou, Bessem understands that her own sexual identity could have negative consequences, that he could force her to present herself as heterosexual. Jamal himself has had to forswear his queer identity in favor of heterosexual marriage after his job was threatened by a student’s accusation that Jamal had sexually harassed him.

            The ending is not unexpected, but it doesn’t detract from the powerful and moving final chapters. There are few Cameroonian queer novels, and the bravery it takes to identify as LGBT in a country that persecutes this community is a bold act of queer courage.