Greener on the Other Side with author Lionel Ntasano from Burundi, Africa

Greener on the Other Side with author Lionel Ntasano from Burundi, Africa
 

This perceptive, coherent, thought-provoking and piercing work highlights the subtle social game of everyday life filled with puns and double meanings, seen through the eyes of an unorthodox hero - a very young priest by the name of Nickolas Jordan.

He is a teenage African boy who loses his family in a gruesome genocide. He finds himself in New York City as a political refugee; disillusioned with the adult world and its phoniness; where his world takes another tumble as he meets all kinds of people that further shatter his understanding of life; an envious lawyer, an angry artist, an egocentric heiress, a greedy businessman and a slothful dreamer. After a decade has passed, he returns to his native country to meet his only remaining relative, and childhood best friend maybe to find some closure, but to his surprise, he discovers that she is a gluttonous alcoholic and the best friend, an opportunistic pervert. All these encounters, events and relationships, shape his views and beliefs that ultimately induce him to become a priest.

The story is set between 1993 and 2013 in New York, Paris, Nairobi and Burundi, and begets the question whether the Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Lionel Ntasano was born in Bujumbura, Burundi and now runs the Nonara Beach Resort in his homeland. His life and work have taken him through Zambia, the United States, Kenya, France and Switzerland, among others. Writing Greener on the Other Side has helped reconnect him to family and friends after a turbulent life of glamour, travel and tragedy.