Eddie Signwriter

January 4, 2010
Schwartzman’s debut novel bears testament to his background as a poet, as lush description and bright, playful prose chronicle the travails of Kwasi Edward Michael Dankoh, aka Eddie Signwriter. Born in independent Ghana and raised by his father in Botswana, Kwasi grows up an introspective young man often perceived to be an outsider. His solitude is broken when he meets Celeste, and their adolescent romance blossoms until it runs into a scandal—the death of Celeste’s aunt—that sends Kwasi packing. He ends up as an apprentice signwriter and eventually starts a successful business of his own that meets a ruinous end after Celeste briefly reappears. In a surprisingly upbeat treatment of human trafficking and illegal immigration, Kwasi arrives in Paris and joins a community of African immigrants who congregate at a secret club located in a cellar beneath a flower shop. As Kwasi strives to redefine himself through his new life and a new love, aspects of his past remain less than hidden. This wide-ranging and gorgeously written novel has huge heart, and Kwasi’s quest for identity is as sad as it is uplifting.