Arcadia

An intersex narrator coming of age in a libertarian commune sets the stage for this English-language debut, a story that reveals and subverts contemporary conceptions of normative sexuality, capitalist culture, and environmental degradation. Winner, Prix du Livre Inter, 2019 Shortlisted for the Prix Femina, Prix Medicis, Prix de Flore Longlisted for the Prix France-Culture, Prix Wepler Farah moves into Liberty House--an arcadia, a community in harmony with nature--at the tender age of thirteen, with her family. The commune's spiritual leader, Arcady, preaches equality, non-violence, anti-speciesism, free love and uninhibited desire for all, regardless of gender, age, looks or ability. In this seemingly utopian "quiet zone," far from access to technology and commerce, Farah goes through puberty as a transgender transition. Upon discovering they are intersex, Farah begins to question what it means to be a woman or a man, and all the other principles those within and outside the confraternity live by, and grows increasingly empowered to create a better world. Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam delivers a magisterial novel, a scathing critique of innocence in the contemporary world.