This is a novel about the pacification of memories for those who, from Kinshasa to Brussels, hope without believing that the past can one day pass. Summary In the Belly of the Congo tells the story of Princess Tshala Nyota Moelo, who frees herself from the codes of one of the most prestigious monarchies of pre-colonial Congo. Seduced by a young Belgian colonist, she ends up in the last human zoo in Europe. Here we are plunged into the heart of the "Congolese village" of the Universal and International Exhibition of Brussels in 1958, where we find the colonial work in all its ignominy. Page after page, through the adventures of Princess Tshala and her niece who tries to find her traces, the fertile memory of Africa and a world incapable of reinventing itself are revealed.

Excerpt The committee is counting on a minimum of ten Congolese, sir. We would like to exhibit five or six healthy, robust Negroes, skilled with their hands, who know how to sing and dance, and as many plump Negresses who are just as gifted. If we could get our hands on one or two children under eight by the deadline of April 1, the matter would be considered settled. Author's point of view This is the novel that I would have liked to read to understand when and how the peoples of black Africa and those of Western Europe failed at the end of the 19th century to make their meeting a moment of humanity. It is the novel of the pacification of memories for those who, from Kinshasa to Brussels, hope without believing it, that the past can one day pass. The author Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Blaise Ndala studied law in Belgium before settling in Ottawa in 2007. A novelist, he weaves a patient work, listening to the world.