Washed-Out Memory

The first English translation of a Mauritian family saga

This poignant story from the award-winning Nathacha Appanah begins with a flock of starlings whose murmur, in their secret language, evokes all migrations. For Appanah, it conjures memories of her ancestors, who left a village in India in 1872 for the island of Mauritius. This murmuration marks the beginning of a great journey through memory, one that reveals both the collective history of indentured Indian laborers and the intimate story of Appanah's family. At the heart of the book is a magnificent tribute to her grandfather, whose beauty and courage illuminate these pages. Appanah's genius lies in her direct yet restrained style, narrating the tales of her ancestors, her parents, and her own childhood as if memory were fading from generation to generation and it is her duty to preserve and protect it.