Just finished reading Les Rochers de Poudre d'Or (2003) by Natasha Appanah. This book has been on my book shelf for many years and never read it. So glad I did.
The book follows the lives of the protagonists who left India for Mauritius for a better life. They believe that under rocks/rochers in Mauritius, you can find gold! They don't know yet that they will replace the slaves, that they will be known as 'indentured labourers'. The journey is perilous and long. The year is 1892. The landscape surrounding them is hope. This is a story of hardship, lost and resilience.
Nous sommes un peuple sans racines mais la mer nous appartient.
We are people with no roots but the sea is ours.
Slavery in Mauritius was abolished in 1833 and finally passed in Mauritius in 1835. Indentured labourers from India started arriving in 1834 to work in the sugarcane fields on a five year contract.
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