Washed-Out Memory

Nathacha Appanah is an award-winning journalist-turned-author born in Mauritius and based in France. Her latest novel, La Nuit au cœur, won the Prix Femina, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, and the Prix Renaudot des Lycéens.Katherine Gregor is a translator of Italian and French literature, most recently The Memory of the Air by Caroline Lamarche, winner of an English PEN Translates Award.

"The most powerful narrative of her oeuvre." — ELLE"This book is a melting pot of love, stories, grace, and drama—and a portrait of a bygone world" — La Croix"There are a thousand ways to tell history; yet with this narrative, Nathacha Appanah demonstrates that there is nothing more powerful—or indeed, more true—than writing from a human perspective, than 'individualizing.' In doing so, her work as a writer becomes, itself, a historical work." — Le Figaro littéraire"A delicate and understated tribute." — Madame Figaro"They spent their lives working on the plantations of Mauritius—sparing with both their words and their feelings. With rare fidelity, with delicacy, and with quiet reserve, Nathacha Appanah tells their story, moving from one memory to the next—her own memories, and those of her parents. Patiently, she traces the thread back to that ancestor who arrived from India in the nineteenth century, offering his labor to take the place of the slaves. And thus, she unveils the true saga of her origins." — Le Monde des livres