This pre-publication extract (Chapter 1) from an important Camerounian first novel sets a scene which reverses the roles of the French and African lovers in Cyprian Ekwensi's "Night of freedom". It is the story of an African student in Paris whose casual affair with a French girl leads him into deeper emotional involvement with her which is blocked only by her father. Failure to get parental approval leads to tragedy when the girl finally commits suicide. Ironically the African student gets off the hook that way.