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Cécé
“The best book on Haiti in a very long time . . . powerful, spot on, likely the best written.” —Dany Laferrière
An astonishing novel of raw beauty about gang life, sex work, and social media in Haiti
Cécé La Flamme, as she’s known by her loyal Facebook friends, captures photographs of still bodies. Figures scorched and bruised, left to the rubble of the Cité of Divine Power. When she posts an image of a corpse, Cécé’s followers skyrocket. “Nothing got more attention than a good corpse that was nice and warm or already rotting.” Just beside visions of rot and neglect, she posts pictures of her toes, gullies crisscrossing the cité, and her own lips painted blue. With every image, Cécé seeks control and wants to create a frank, intimate record of the terror in her cité.
Cécé’s world begins and ends with the cité – a slum peopled by gangs, yelping kids, grandmothers, junkies, and preachers. The very gate that encloses the cité was constructed by militant gang members. First boss Freddy, then Joël, then Jules César rule the gang that holds the cité in a chokehold. Sharp, sincere, and desperate, Cécé cleaves life for herself out of social media, sex work, and attempts at friendship with other women. When an American journalist offers to buy the rights to Cécé’s photographs, she demands double the cash. When an abusive former client dies, she wears hot pink to his funeral. Emmelie Prophète’s novel is fierce, devastating, and suggestive – a record of a woman clawing back control.
An astonishing novel of raw beauty about gang life, sex work, and social media in Haiti
Cécé La Flamme, as she’s known by her loyal Facebook friends, captures photographs of still bodies. Figures scorched and bruised, left to the rubble of the Cité of Divine Power. When she posts an image of a corpse, Cécé’s followers skyrocket. “Nothing got more attention than a good corpse that was nice and warm or already rotting.” Just beside visions of rot and neglect, she posts pictures of her toes, gullies crisscrossing the cité, and her own lips painted blue. With every image, Cécé seeks control and wants to create a frank, intimate record of the terror in her cité.
Cécé’s world begins and ends with the cité – a slum peopled by gangs, yelping kids, grandmothers, junkies, and preachers. The very gate that encloses the cité was constructed by militant gang members. First boss Freddy, then Joël, then Jules César rule the gang that holds the cité in a chokehold. Sharp, sincere, and desperate, Cécé cleaves life for herself out of social media, sex work, and attempts at friendship with other women. When an American journalist offers to buy the rights to Cécé’s photographs, she demands double the cash. When an abusive former client dies, she wears hot pink to his funeral. Emmelie Prophète’s novel is fierce, devastating, and suggestive – a record of a woman clawing back control.
224 pages, Paperback
Published September 23, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2025
**4.5 stars
Very very heart wrenching read about the experiences of growing up in Haiti and the violence that is endemic , both through gang warfare and poverty and the impacts of it all on all of the people that live in the cité ; the violence is cyclical and ruthless and endless, touching every corner and aspect of life and the protagonist Cece and the other characters are never given a rest from it
One very unique aspect of the book was the detailed and descriptive way that prophète describes the cité that involves all of the senses - the smells, the sounds etc ; it paints a very visceral picture for the reader
Very very heart wrenching read about the experiences of growing up in Haiti and the violence that is endemic , both through gang warfare and poverty and the impacts of it all on all of the people that live in the cité ; the violence is cyclical and ruthless and endless, touching every corner and aspect of life and the protagonist Cece and the other characters are never given a rest from it
One very unique aspect of the book was the detailed and descriptive way that prophète describes the cité that involves all of the senses - the smells, the sounds etc ; it paints a very visceral picture for the reader
September 25, 2025
an extraordinary, poetic book
This is just an extraordinary, poetic book that lets the reader see the protagonist’s life through her eyes—and tells us a lot about our own need as human beings to be seen and heard.
This is just an extraordinary, poetic book that lets the reader see the protagonist’s life through her eyes—and tells us a lot about our own need as human beings to be seen and heard.
October 9, 2025
This book probably had one of the best concluding paragraphs that I have ever read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews