Memoirs of a Porcupine, by Alain Mabanckou

'So I'm just a wild animal, men would say, since they only believe what they see, but for years I was the double of Kibandi ... I carried out my orders to the letter, even though towards the end I began to step back a bit, thinking we were digging our own graves, but I was stuck with my role, as a turtle is lumbered with his shell ... Kibandi died the day before yesterday, so here is my confession ...'

All human beings, goes an African legend, have an animal double. Freed of his master, this porcupine is ready to tell all in his memoir. With sly references to Poe, Hemingway and Faulkner, Mabanckou teases and plays with African folklore.