The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
In the remote forests of Mauritius young Raj is almost oblivious of the Second World War raging beyond his tiny exotic island. With only his mother for company while his father works as a prison guard, solitary ever since his brothers died years ago, Raj thinks only of making friends. One day, the far-away world comes to Mauritius and Raj meets David, a Jew exiled from his home in Europe and imprisoned in the camp where Raj's father works. David becomes the friend that he has always longed for, a brother to replace those he has lost. Raj knows that he must help David to escape. As they flee through sub-tropical landscapes and devastating storms, the boys battle hunger and malaria - and forge a friendship only death can destroy. The Last Brother is a powerful, poetic novel that sheds new light on a little-explored aspect of 20th-century history.
'Many readers will enjoy this lushly beautiful child's-eye tale of resistance to injustice simply as a universal fable of two boys thrown together in friendship and solidarity against a savage adult world.. sumptuous translation' Independent. 'There aren't many publishers' lists about which I can say this, but I've never read a MacLehose Press book that I thought less than brilliant. And The Last Brother is no exception ... Not many writers can marry a really strong child's eye' Daniel Hahn. 'Nathacha Appanah has created a notable study of guilt and redemption through love, pure and absolute... Appanah has delved into the soul of a suffering old man and exposed a sensitive, moving narrative which is at once disturbing, yet celebratory of man's resilience in the face of terror. Geoffrey Strachan's translation bears witness to a powerfully lyrical and poetic work of literature that encourages reflection on the frailty of man in the face of recurring holocausts, a work that staggers in its power to move the most cynical reader' Irish Examiner. 'A beautiful novel' Margot Dijkgraaf, NRC Handelsblad. 'A disturbing and extraordinarily sensitive story around the tragic Odyssey of Jewish refugees' Le Monde.
Nathacha Appanah, a French-Mauritian with an Indian background, was born in Mauritius in 1973. She was brought up in Mauritius and worked there as a journalist before moving to France in 1998. The Last Brother, her first novel to be translated into English, was awarded the FNAC Fiction Prize in 2007 in its French edition. Geoffrey Strachan is the award-winning translator of Andrei Makine.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781847246417 |
| ISBN 10 | 1847246419 |
| Title | The Last Brother |
| Author | Nathacha Appanah |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Quercus Publishing |
| Year published | 2010-02-04 |
| Number of pages | 216 |
| Prizes | Winner of Prix de Roman FNAC 2007, Short-listed for Prix Femina 2007, Short-listed for Le Prix Medicis 2007 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |