Novel
Where We Once Belonged
Sia Figiel · 1996
Synopsis
In Malaefou, a village in Samoa, thirteen-year-old Alofa Filiga searches for herself between home, school and village, between the games and confidences of the girls of her age and the prohibitions of the family. She feels neither “good” nor “bad”, and discovers her father's double life. The viewpoint moves from one character to another, such as Siniva, who has come back from studying abroad and cannot find her place again.
Context
The novel came out in Auckland from Pasifika Press in 1996 and received in 1997 the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the best first book of the South East Asia and South Pacific region. In it Figiel borrows from the su'ifefiloi, a form that links songs together, to weave her narrative. Céline Schwaller translated it into French under the title L'île sous la lune, published by Actes Sud in 2001.
Who it is for
For reading Samoa at a teenage girl's height, in a novel that makes the community a voice.
Prizes and reception
Commonwealth prize for the best first book the year after its publication; translated into French five years later.
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