M.H.A Menondji is a newly-published author, originally from Benin, who grew up in France. A passionate of Human Rights, she currently resides in Los Angeles.
Her other passion has been writing and her only ambition, in this regards (in her own words), is to “break the mold” and instill positive multiculturalism in the fount of creativity African writers have used for many years.

With her debut novel, ,“Beyond Those Hills: An Officer and a Lady”, which is deemed to be a showcase of accelerated linguistic and cultural assimilation, Menondji took on the challenge of writing in a language she learned as a third language while a full-time, self-supporting student.

It is always exciting to discover new authors like Menondji, especially when they express their imagination and talent through their words. Her book“Beyond Those Hills: An Officer and a Lady”, which is scheduled to be released on May 8th, reflects on key issues such as love, lust, patriotism and death. 

The novel, a military drama- is the story of Lieutenant Laura Armitage, a young and principled US Navy Officer, who struggles to assess the value of her allegiance to the flag when she is allowed to join an elite unit.  She joins the squad to face hostile teammates, humiliation, deceit and corruption at the highest level of command.

Waging war on several fronts, Laura tries to make sense of it all with the help and protection of an omnipresent mentor, Jim Marshall. Furthermore, Lieutenant T.J.Wilkins, Laura’s contemptuous commanding officer’s instant attraction to her brings more confusion in an already complicated life. Torn in an emotional dilemma, Laura also tries to assess her relationship with the woman Jim has loved: her own mother.

Jamati.com caught up with Menondji,a phenomenal and impressive woman, to talk to her about her life, her inspiration, her message and hope for her debut novel “Beyond Those Hills: An Officer and a Lady”.

Jamati: Tell us about yourself. Who is M.H.A Menondji?
M.H.A Menondji: I am a bi-national of France and Benin residing in the United States since 2000. Having studied international law at the University of Paris 1-Sorbonne, I enrolled in Whittier College, California to specialize in political science and human rights protection. One can summarize my work experience of the past few years in one word: non-profit. I work for several non-profit organizations in the Los Angeles area, the activities of which vary between assistance to refugees, homeless families and promoting literacy.

Jamati: What inspired you to write?
M.H.A Menondji: I once heard that every individual has a book in him or her… When I left France and found myself alone in a country, the language of which I barely spoke, I turned to writing to: 1) not be exceedingly homesick;
2) remain focused on school and learning my language of adoption as fast as I could.

Jamati: Who are the authors who influence your writings in general?
M.H.A Menondji: There is no easy answer to the question of what has influenced my writing style due to the fact that I have been exposed to sometimes contradictory literary performances. I grew up reading the nuanced, profound and colorful works of Chinua Achebe and Leopold Sedar Senghor, while learning to appreciate Emile Zola and Victor Hugo, two literary geniuses with a gift for historical description unequaled to date. What you call my “writing style” is what is referred to as commercial fiction in the style of US author, Tom Clancy, not literature per se. Easy to read and entertaining… or so I hope.

Jamati: How did you do with the transition from writing from French to English? Did you encounter any difficulties?
M.H.A Menondji: My transition from French to English is not complete and I am still learning! I wouldn’t have been able to finish and publish the book without the help of my editor and my test readers. It is extremely difficult to master a language one learns as an adult, but the real challenge turned out not to be the language, but the culture I was trying to describe in the novel. Learning to think in the manner of someone who was born and raised in the United States was testing.

Jamati: Your book “Beyond Those Hills: An Officer and a Lady” Is it fiction or drawn from reality?
M.H.A Menondji: The characters in “Beyond Those Hills: An Officer and a Lady” are fictional for the most part, but the circumstances and situations in which they interact, such as the bombing of the marine barracks in Beirut back in 1983, are real. Some historical figures appear as well, but without being named. A reader with some knowledge of US political history will have no trouble recognizing them…

Jamati: What inspired you to write the book? What are the main themes of the book?
M.H.A Menondji: My inspiration for the book has been my fascination with the military’s Special Forces in general and the precision of their teamwork. One of the recurrent themes of “Beyond those Hills” is team spirit transcending the doubts with which soldiers deal on an almost daily basis. There is also perseverance in adversity, how to balance being a ‘warrior’ and being a woman, patriotism tested, the concept of redemption and of course the condition of female recruits in the military.

Jamati: What message are you trying to convey in the book to your readers ?
M.H.A Menondji: That one can borrow someone else’s cultural identity without losing or forgetting his or hers.

Jamati: Where can we get the book?
M.H.A Menondji: The book is available on May 8 at Amazon.com for US sales, and on the publisher’s e-store for international sales (visit my website for more  information). In the meantime, English-speaking readers are free to access excerpts from the novel posted on the book’s website.

Jamati: Can you tell us 3 African persons, famous or not, that you would like to meet? And tell us why?
M.H.A Menondji: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, for obvious reasons; Dambisa Moyo, the Zambian author, who just published a book on corruption and how to achieve Africa’s financial independence; every woman who has been the victim of gender-based violence because she will inspire me to contribute to the eradication of this phenomenon that plagues our communities in Congo, Sudan and many other African countries.

Jamati: Africa is the future because..
M.H.A Menondji: If we learn to use our resources, whether natural, cultural, material or intellectual, to achieve real independence. We, as a diaspora, would then be in a position to claim our place in the world and cease being the perpetual assisted.

Jamati: What is your next challenge?
M.H.A Menondji: Not spend 14 years writing my next book.

Jamati: Thank you for your time and good luck with your next book.
M.H.A Menondji: Thank you. It was a pleasure.

For more information on M.H.A Menondji, please visit her official website.