The grandiose novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author is now exclusively available as a KiWi edition. In three artfully intertwined storylines that span from the present to the colonial era, Le Clézio tells the story of the Archambaus in wonderfully clear language. He transports the reader to a foreign world and takes them on a quest for traces in distant lands.

In 1891, the Archambau brothers travel to Mauritius, the family's homeland. During the sea voyage, which passes through Aden where the doctor Jacques treats the gravely ill poet Rimbaud, an outbreak of smallpox occurs. As a result, the passengers, Europeans and Indian laborers, are not allowed to disembark in Mauritius but are quarantined on a nearby island inhabited by Indians. Soon, unbearable tensions arise among the different groups. Only Léon, deeply impressed by the poet of "The Drunken Boat," feels unaffected.