Eleven-year-old Milan, an only child, is terribly bored in a France where echoes of distant tragedies reach him only in fragments, on television in the evenings. Then, suddenly, at the end of the summer of 1994, his mother imposes the presence of a supposed cousin his own age, Claude. Initially bewildered by this mute and wounded boy, newly arrived from Rwanda, Milan finds in him an almost brotherly figure with whom to share everything: his room and his suburban neighborhood, finally less dreary, his games and passions, his laughter and his sorrows…
But this double, who had become so close to him, is torn away as abruptly as he had appeared. Milan was only alone; now he is consumed by grief, outraged by his parents' silence. He doesn't know it yet, but step by step, journey after journey, becoming a young man and then an adult, he will trace his way back to the source of the family mystery and the origins of the Rwandan tragedy, still rebuilding after the genocide against the Tutsis. There, he finds a family: his taciturn grandmother; Eusebia, generous and determined; Claude, ever the dreamer, living in a cheerful caravanserai with his friend Sartre; little Stella, often taking refuge high in the jacaranda tree, her beloved pet tree; and so many others trying to make their way in a wounded country, yet one of phenomenal vitality.
The raw wounds are hidden beneath a whirlwind of noise, music, and alcohol. Neither entirely from there nor entirely from elsewhere, Milan becomes the conduit for secrets that must be unearthed. The revelations will be painful for everyone, and Stella will have to give up her beloved jacaranda, but at the end of the road, perhaps reconciliation is possible.
As Milan listens and comes to understand the land of his origins, Gaël Faye, with his unique gentleness, reconstructs the contrasting journeys of his characters. Spanning four generations, it tells the harrowing story of a country that, despite everything, attempts to embrace dialogue and forgiveness. Like a tree standing between darkness and light, Jacaranda celebrates humanity—paradoxical, loving, and vibrant.