The Last Brother - Tapa dura

Críticas

'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.

Reseña del editor

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.