In Senegal, three modest families share a courtyard. This common space is a small paradise where they meet to cook, dine, talk, evoke memories, and grow together. At one Sunday family gathering, the usual post-meal conversation turns tense when Sada's adolescent son, Dieìry, asks why his father was so friendly with a government official at a televised ribbon-cutting the day before. The conversation quickly devolves into one about respect and duty.

InEmpire of Illusion, legendary Senegalese novelist Aminata Sow Fall, explores the powerful themes of family, respect, and ethics. What respect does a son owe his fatherand vice versa? How does a family maintain a balance of debate and respect? How does a person maintain self-respect when forced to swim in ethically muddy waters? Aminata Sow Fall, the matriarch of Senegalese social-realist fiction delivers yet another trenchant examination of her society, and of the universal challenge of finding, keeping, and giving respect to oneself and others.

Aminata Sow Fall is a Senegalese novelist whose work has received international acclaim (Grand Prix littéraire de l'Afrique noire, Prix International Alioune Diop, and Grand Prix de la Francophonie de l'Académie française), most notably forLe Revenant,La Grève des bàttu,L'Appel des arènes,Ex-père de la nation: roman,Douceurs du bercail, andLe jujubier du patriarche.

Meg Weisberg is a creative writer, visual artist, and scholar of comparative literature, focusing on Africa and on Africa's cultural relationships with the rest of the world.