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Résumé :
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Nine-year-old Raj lives with his mother and abusive father in a small village on the island of Mauritius in the 1940s. When his older and younger brothers are tragically killed, the family moves halfway across the island to Beau-Bassin, where Raj's father finds work as a prison guard, overseeing European Jewish exiles interned by the British after being turned away from Palestine. When Raj is admitted to the prison's hospital after a severe beating by his father, he meets one of the orphaned refugees, David. Though the two couldn't be more different, they forge an immediate connection. As their relationship grows, a violent cyclone rocks the village and, with Raj's help, David is able to escape. As suspicion surrounding Raj's family begins to swell, the two boys retreat to the surrounding forest, struggling to survive as their harrowing journey becomes increasingly dangerous. Appanah's intense tale finely captures the deep connection between the imperiled Raj and David as well as Raj's desperate attempts, later in life, to make sense of these tragic events and extraordinary circumstances
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