Goldfish, J. M. G. Le Clézio

"Quem vel ximimati in ti teucucuitla michin." This Nahuatl proverb could be translated as: "Oh fish, little golden fish, beware! For there are so many snares and nets laid out for you in this world." The story that follows recounts the adventures of a golden fish from North Africa, young Laïla, stolen, beaten, and left half-deaf at the age of six, and sold to Lalla Asma, who is both her grandmother and her mistress. Upon the old woman's death eight years later, the grand door of the Mellah house finally opens, and Laïla must face life with cheerfulness and determination to reach the ends of the earth.