An Impossible Return
In 2018, middle-aged Joséphin travels from Mauritius to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. He is part of the eight-member Chagossian delegation to attend the hearing on the claim of the forcibly relocated Chagossian islanders. With few Euros, the delegation travels with their own food provisions, including rice cookers.
In 1967, Gabriel, a young Mauritian, arrives in Diego Garcia as secretary to the Chagos Archipelagos’ administrator. He meets Marie, they fall in love, and shortly Joséphin is born. Although life is harsh on the islands, they lead a cheerful existence among the friendly islanders, who primarily fish for food and work on the coconut plantation. The coconuts are sent to Mauritius and subsequently exported. While Gabriel is aware of the secret negotiations between the Mauritian and British governments, he is sworn to secrecy. This has grave consequences for his family. And in 2019, Joséphin recalls the life in Chagos and Mauritius while awaiting The Hague court’s verdict.
Franco-Mauritian author Caroline Laurent has penned this historical fiction novel based on stories her Mauritian mother told, and her extensive research. The narrative is written the typical lyrical style of a French novel, which the translator has reproduced faithfully for readers’ enjoyment. Life on the islands is portrayed with intimate details of the inhabitants’ day-to-day existence, such that one can feel the pain of the indigenous peoples’ evacuation for reasons they don’t understand. The repercussions of this shameful act are well illustrated. Laurent was invited to be part of the Chagossian delegation to the hearing at the International Court of Justice. While earlier courts’ rulings were overturned, Laurent writes in her afterword about the proceedings that she wondered, “How would this one play out? Would the UN be listened to? Like Marie, we’d have to keep [the] faith.”
