“[A] new percussive voice of Cameroonian literature”—Le Point
“A powerful novel that conveys facts with all the depth that fiction allows.” —Anne Bocandé, Africultures
Hemley Boum’s The Maquisards is a historical novel set in Cameroon on the eve of its independence, bringingtogether a loosely connected cast of characters whose personal lives and family secrets become deeply entangled with the decade-long war of liberation. Boum masterfully reconstructs the maquis—the clandestine networks of anti-colonial fighters—rooting their struggle in the dense forest of Bassa land, where ordinary villagers, maquisards, and political leaders like Ruben Um Nyobé navigate treacherous terrain of betrayal and solidarity.
Through this intergenerational saga, Boum not only resurrects a nearly forgotten chapter in Cameroonian history but also retraces the emotional and moral cost of freedom, affirming that nationhood is born not only from ideology, but from the lived, collective struggles of ordinary people.
