After leaving Ethiopia at the age of thirteen, a young girl arrives in Paris April 1978. Soon afterward, the only child of an Ethiopian father and French mother begins attending the Lycée Jules-Ferry near the Place de Clichy métro station in the north-western part of the city. Standing before a classroom of unfamiliar faces, she feels overwhelmed by anxiety and acutely aware of her difference, convinced that that her classmates are judging her—especially her unfashionable coat. “Whispers, some stifled laughter. It’s her coat, they must be laughing at the ugliness of this chequered thing that compresses her. She feels ridiculous,…