Tell Them I Existed
Thomas Keller flies to the Democratic Republic of Congo to certify that coltan mines are conflict-free.
The certificates are lies. The children working in those mines are real.
He's done this before - other countries, other minerals, same professional dishonesty wrapped in bureaucratic language. Sign the papers. Collect the pay check. Go home clean. The system works because people like Thomas make it work.
This time, something breaks.
Maybe it's the eight-year-old he photographs carrying ore bags that bend his spine. Maybe it's Amina, the nineteen-year-old housemaid serving wine at the Belgian embassy reception, whose employer calls her "obedient" with a smile Thomas wants to break.
He has evidence. Fifty-three photos. Recordings. Documentation that contradicts everything he's about to certify as compliant.
He also has a daughter whose university he's paying for. A career he spent fifteen years building. A system that protects those who stay silent and destroys those who don't.
What does it cost to keep your hands clean?
What does it cost to tell the truth?
TELL THEM I EXISTED is transgressive literary fiction about complicity, colonial violence, and the mathematics of moral compromise. It's a novel about what happens when caring costs everything - and whether small acts of honesty matter when they change nothing.
For readers of fiction that refuses to comfort.
Contains mature themes including sexual violence and systemic abuse. Recommended for adult readers.
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