Coline is an angry high school student. She lives in a small mining town in northern France, struggling with deindustrialization. The abandoned slag heaps, nestled between shopping centers and mini-golf courses, are the only rewilded spaces in the area. To survive in a social environment that shows her no mercy—especially due to the pervasive presence of stereotypical discourse—she retreats into an offbeat imaginary world and develops a deep passion for the music of poet and singer Jamila Woods, with whom she forms a close connection.
Over time, she cultivates a form of magical thinking and language, allowing her to explore her questions about her sexuality, veganism, and connection to nature in a place where such concerns barely have room to exist. Until, one night—harder than the others—Coline decides to flee into the darkness, seeking refuge in the vegetation of the slag heap.
Written from Coline’s perspective, in an inhabited and authentic voice—made all the more vivid by dialogues drawn from writing workshops with high school students—this book immerses the reader in the thoughts and angry humor of a generation searching for meaning and beauty.
