A mixed-race teenager in the Netherlands spends months at a juvenile detention center for a violent crime that she did not commit and must come to terms with the her anger, sorrow and guilt. 50,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

Salomâe Atabong is the sixteen-year-old daughter of a Cameroonian father and a Dutch mother, living in the Netherlands. She arrives at a juvenile detention center to start a six-month sentence for a violent crime, which she did commit but does not regret. Expected to visit with a racist psychologist and perform her apologies, Salomâe refuses to atone. But even if Salomâe could get home, it would be no refuge: her father has recently been diagnosed with liver cancer, and her elder sister Miriam's main preoccupation is to get out of the village as soon as possible. After months in the prison system, she realizes she must come to terms with her anger, sorrow, and guilt, as well as the crime she has committed and the real reason behind her rage. - (Baker & Taylor)

A bold, unsettling, surprisingly tender debut novel for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Nightcrawling. - (McMillan Palgrave)

A bold, unsettling, surprisingly tender debut novel for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Nightcrawling.

Salomé Atabong is the sixteen-year-old daughter of a Cameroonian father and a Dutch mother, living in the Netherlands. She arrives at a juvenile detention center to start a six-month sentence for a violent crime, which she did commit but does not regret. Expected to visit with a racist psychologist and perform her apologies, Salomé refuses to atone. But even if Salomé could get home, it would be no refuge: her father has recently been diagnosed with liver cancer, and her elder sister Miriam's main preoccupation is to get out of the village as soon as possible.

After months in the prison system, she realizes she must come to terms with the real reason behind her rage.

Raw and unsentimental yet lyrical, Confrontations captures the paradoxical demands society makes on Black women, the way communities, schools, and the prison system perpetuate racism, and the cost of Black female defiance.

Simone Atangana Bekono studied creative writing at the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem. Her debut poetry collection, how the first sparks became visible, was awarded the Poëziedebuutprijs Aan Zee for best first book of poetry. She lives in Amsterdam.

Suzanne Heukensfeldt Jansen is a bilingual freelance translator, focusing on literary fiction and nonfiction. She obtained her postgraduate certificate in literary translation from University College. She lives in London.

Booklist Reviews

Bekono's lyrical debut is an exploration of the internal and external conflicts that come with being a young Black girl in the Netherlands. Salomé Atabong is the daughter of a Dutch mother and a Cameroonian father. She has always struggled to fit into her small community, but the divide is further highlighted when a group of asylum seekers is placed in local housing and the subtle racist acts she has accepted throughout her life escalate. At 16, she is convicted of a violent crime and sentenced to six months in a rehabilitation center for young women, but her rehabilitation is dependent on working with a racist psychologist. Bekono's novel is perfect for readers who value in-depth characterization. Salomé struggles with the quirks of teenagehood, a troubled home life, and the politics of navigating a world where underlying racist views are treated as normal and acceptable. In her complex and intricate first novel, Bekono does a fantastic job of exploring the internal conflict of wanting to fit in while also hoping to hold society to account. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.