The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana
by Maryse Condé, translated by Richard Philcox
(World Editions, ISBN 9781642860696)
Born to a black single mother in Guadeloupe, twins Ivan and Ivana learn early in life of Caribbean literature) lets the reader know upfront that things are not going to end well. As they grow up, the twins seek refuge in each other from daily struggles and outside interference in their lives – yet the love they share builds to a passion that they struggle to control or understand. They travel together to Mali to meet their absent father, and then on to Paris, where they take very different paths, with Ivan becoming radicalized and Ivana training to become a police officer. The tragic dénouement is scarcely a surprise – the twins’ fate had been predicted from their birth by their grandmother, who dreamt of them ‘lying in a pool of blood’.
