By AFD IT Team

AFD Library Picks: March 2026

AFD Library Picks: March 2026 invites you to explore three compelling French novels that take readers across continents, emotions, and inner landscapes. Whether you enjoy poetic storytelling, psychological depth, or powerful contemporary narratives, our latest picks have something for every reader.

✨ This month’s selection:

  • Jacaranda
    A lyrical and moving novel that weaves memory, identity, and history. Jacaranda offers a sensitive exploration of roots, exile, and the echoes of the past through evocative prose.

  • La nuit au cœur
    A haunting and intimate story that delves into human vulnerability and resilience. Set against a stark natural backdrop, this novel blurs the line between survival, emotion, and introspection.

  • Neiges de marbre
    A powerful narrative tackling social tensions, moral dilemmas, and the fragility of human bonds. Mohammad delivers a gripping and thought-provoking read.

📖 All titles are available for borrowing at the AFD Library.
Drop by, pick your next read, and let French literature accompany you this spring!

Jacaranda - Gaël Faye

Jacaranda by Gaël Faye is a deeply affecting and lyrical novel that explores memory, identity, and the long shadow of history. Through the life of Milan, a Franco-Rwandan growing up in France and later returning to Rwanda, Faye examines how the traumas of the 1994 genocide and colonial past reverberate across generations. The novel juxtaposes intimate personal stories with the broader historical landscape, confronting silence, loss, and the effort to rebuild both family and nation. Awarded the prestigious Prix Renaudot in 2024 & as extraordinaty Novel for Goncourt Choice of India 2025 , Jacaranda combines sensitive prose with powerful reflection, offering readers a poignant meditation on resilience, reconciliation, and the cost of remembering.

La nuit au cœur - Natacha Appanah

La nuit au cœur by Natacha Appanah is a powerful and emotionally intense novel that interweaves the stories of three women affected by intimate partner violence, including the author’s own experience. Appanah blends autobiographical elements with investigation and literary reflection to confront the mechanics of control, fear, and femicide, giving voice and dignity to women often reduced to statistics. Her prose is both sober and lyrical, forcing readers to face the brutal realities of domestic violence while honoring the resilience of survivors. The book’s urgency and depth have earned it major literary recognition and made it one of the most striking works of the recent French literary season. This book is one the four books chosen for Goncourt de l’Inde 2026 

Neiges de marbre - Mohammed Dib

Neiges de marbre by Mohammed Dib is a poignant and quietly powerful novel by Algerian writer Mohammed Dib, completing his so-called “nordic” trilogy. Set against the stark, snowy landscapes of the North, the story follows a mixed-heritage family and especially the emotional journey of a father and his daughter, Lyyl, as love, separation, and cultural displacement shape their bond. Dib’s prose is subtle and evocative, blending themes of identity, loss, and the profound effects of geographic and emotional exile. Through the metaphors of snow and marble, the novel captures the fragile tensions between belonging and estrangement, making this a deeply reflective and moving work.