Our Lady of The Nile (originally Notre Dame du Nil) is French-language novel by Scholastique Mukasonga, released in 2012 in the original french, and 2014 in English. The story is a dramatic Coming of Age narrative about a group of young girls studying in a Catholic boarding school in Rwanda, near the origin of the Nile river (hence the name). It mixes fictional elements with the real conflict between Hutus and Tutsis in 1980's Central Africa (which directly affected its author, a Tutsi herself).The novel blends high school cliches and descriptions of the lives of those girls in such a politically charged society. According to the author, this was done in order to give context to the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi ethnicity, while at the same time providing "a universal texture to the resentment, envy, and opportunism that are a part of any student body".The bulk of the novel follows the perspectives of two tutsi girls, Veronica and Virginia, as they atend the lycée Our Lady of the Nile, a high-class school meant to form the new elite of Rwanda. That said, there are numerous characters, so the story can go on a tangent at times.
The book provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: French names freely mix with traditional african ones, sometimes in the same person: Virginia's actual birth name is Mutamuriza. This is common with most of the girls in the lycée, who are supposed to act as french/belgian as possible.
- Alpha Bitch: Gloriosa feels this role and then some.
- Author Avatar: Virginia is this to Scholastique, having similar life experiences, such as being forced to leave her school.
- Big Bad: Gloriosa feels this role most of the time, being an high-school Alpha Bitch up to eleven.
- Break the Cutie: Virginia, Veronica and Modesta are just common high-school girls that just want an education, but their reality is not kind to them.
- Darkest Africa: Averted. The story is set in Rwanda, but the main characters are natives, so for them it's just their normal.
- Death by Childbirth: Frida dies like this.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The story takes place mostly in a traditionally western setting ( a Catholic School), but it's still set in 1980's Rwanda, so most of the characters have a very contrasting set of values to that reality.
- Dirty Old Man: Father Herménégilde is a priest who gives gifts to his underage students in exchange for seeing them naked. He's also a raging racist.
- Fontenaille is initially thought to be this, but it's mostly a subversion. One of the characters even points out that he is past his age for that.
- Downer Ending: Veronica is dead, Virginia and Immaculée have lost faith in their fellow men, and things are about to get very bad for the Tutsis.
- Fantastic Racism: Deeply Deconstructed and Played for Drama. The Tutsis are subject to many mythological interpretations of their origins and supposed role, both by their admirers (who see them as Ancient Egyptians with magical abilities) and their detractors (who claim they are basically demons), but their suffering is VERY real.
- Faux Affably Evil: Gloriosa actively uses her image as a harmless, model high-school girl and activist to get what she wants (which usually involves people getting hurt).
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: The english translation of the book features many french words, and all versions feature some kinyarwanda, the native language of most of the girls.
- Gratuitous French: Many french words remain in the english translations, specially when it comes to names: Immaculée, Herménégilde, Fontanaille, among many others.
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Harsher in Hindsight: The story is set in the 1980s, so everything said and done to the girls only becomes more ominous if you know what's gonna happen. - Hobbes Was Right: Immaculée reaches this conclusion at the end.
- It Amused Me: A rare heroic example. Immaculée saves Virginia because she likes chalanges.
- Just Before the End: The story is set a few years before the Rwandan Genocide.
- Killed Off for Real: Veronica dies off screen, in a very painful and cruel manner.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Did Virginia really contact the spirit of the ancient queen? It's left ambiguous.
- Meaningful Name: Virginia's birth name, Mutamuriza, means something like "she we cannot make cry", and the crying symbolism shows up at the end of the book.
- In a vision, Virginia sees the dead queen who she had honored previously. He gifts her with a goat named Gatare (meaning "white and pure"). That ends up being meaningful shortly after as Immaculée offers to save Virginia, and her name is revealed to be Makagatare, which helps Virginia trust her offer.
- Mighty Whitey: Painfully subverted. In the climax of the novel, Veronica tries to hid in Fontenaille house, hoping he could protect her, but it is to no avail.
- Rape as Drama: Gloriosa thinks that Modesta betrayed her, so she has her goons brutally rape her as punishment.
