The Gospel According to the New World - by Maryse Condé (Paperback)

About the Book

One Easter Sunday, Madame Ballandra puts her hands together and exclaims: "A miracle!" Baby Pascal is stikingly beautiful, brown in complexion, with gray-green eyes like the sea. But where does he come from? Is he really the child of God? So goes the rumor, and many signs throughout his life will cause this theory to gain ground. From journey to journey and from one community to another, Pascal sets off in search of his origins, trying to understand the meaning of his mission. Will he be able to change the fate of humanity? And what will the New World Gospel reveal?--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2023

"The great voice of the Caribbean." -Jury, International Booker 2023

"French novelist Condéeacute; (Waiting for the Waters to Rise)
delivers an ingenious bildungsroman of a messianic figure in contemporary
Martinique. Readers will be transfixed." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

A miracle baby is born on Easter Sunday, rumored to be the child of God. Award-winning Caribbean author Maryse Condé follows his journey in search of his origins and mission.

One Easter Sunday, Madame Ballandra puts her hands together and exclaims: "A miracle!" Baby Pascal is strikingly beautiful, brown in complexion, with gray-green eyes like the sea. But where does he come from? Is he really the child of God? So goes the rumor, and many signs throughout his life will cause this theory to gain ground. From journey to journey and from one community to another, Pascal sets off in search of his origins, trying to understand the meaning of his mission. Will he be able to change the fate of humanity? And what will the New World Gospel reveal? For all its beauty, vivacity, humor, and power, Maryse Condé's latest novel is above all a work of combat. Lucid and full of conviction, Condé attests that solidarity and love remain our most extraordinary and lifesaving forces.

Review Quotes

Praise for Maryse Condéeacute;

"An extraordinary storyteller." -Bernardine Evaristo

"The grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature." --Fiammetta Rocco, The Guardian

"Throughout her four-decade literary career, the Guadeloupean writer has explored a global vision of the Black diaspora, and placed Caribbean life at the center. In the past few years, Condé has been showered with honors and accolades across the globe. The Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat sees Condé as a "giant of literature," whose prolific work connects continents and generations. One thing is certain: Condé is finally receiving the acclaim her wide-ranging body of work deserves." --Anderson Tepper, The New York Times

"She describes the ravages of colonialism and the post-colonial chaos in a language which is both precise and overwhelming. In her stories the dead live close to the living in a world where gender, race, and class are constantly turned over in new constellations." --ANN PÅAring;LSSON, Jury, New Academy Prize in Literature

"Condé is a born storyteller." --Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Gospel According to the New World

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2023

"The great voice of the Caribbean." --The International Booker Prize 2023 panel of judges

"The book borrows from the tradition of magical realism and draws us into a world full of colour and life. This is a book that succeeds in mixing humour with poetry, and depth with lightness." --The International Booker Prize 2023 panel of judges

"The novel (The Gospel According to the New World) follows a mixed-race, Christ-like figure who travels the world in search of meaning and belonging. Along the way, he encounters revolutionaries, tyrants, false prophets and actual Judases -- not to mention a string of passionate lovers. It feels like a capstone work" --Anderson Tepper, The New York Times

"This inventive bildungsroman follows Pascal, an abandoned child in Martinique whose colorful life mirrors that of Jesus Christ, as he seeks to understand his purpose."--The New York Times

"French novelist Condé (Waiting for the Waters to Rise) delivers an ingenious bildungsroman of a messianic figure in contemporary Martinique. Readers will be transfixed." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The leading Caribbean writer's latest, compelling novel does not preach but it does instruct."--Irish Times

"Joyful and optimistic ... a deceptively simple novel
full of wisdom, generosity of spirit, and the writer's palpable tenderness
towards the world and her craft." --LEÏLA SLIMANI, author of the international bestseller The Perfect Nanny

"In the intricate, elegantly written The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Condé (Waiting for the Waters to Rise), a miracle child searches for the mission that will bring me