I don't often read works in translation, but I had heard good things about this one so took the chance. And I['m glad I did. This is historical fiction, but based on actual events in the 1960s. It's a love story and a take of colonial and political forces (Britain and America) abandoning the people of Mauritius. Yes, Mauritius got its "independence," but at what cost? Another shameful episode in our history of empire.

A great reminder of why I love to read. I had never heard of the Chagos before, or the horrific actions of the British government, I learned a lot from the novel itself but it also prompted me to do some research on my own.

Overall I enjoyed the book, it was a little slow to start and while I'm not sure how I feel about the characters, I did certainly feel for them and wanted to see where their stories led.

“An Impossible Return” – Caroline Laurent (translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman)

My thanks to @netgalley and @amazoncrossing for a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Inspired by true historical events, “An Impossible Return” is a story of the Chagos archipelago, a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean close to Mauritius. Life on the islands is slow and peaceful, but behind the scenes things are changing as the Cold War starts and independence movements all over the world are finding footing.

Not that Marie, a young hardworking Chagos islander and proud to say so, has any idea of this. She has fallen for Gabriel, a young Mauritian administrator on the island. Their love leads to a son but is built on a secret – Gabriel knows that the Chagos are about to be sold down the river in the quest for Mauritian independence, turned into a US naval base, and that all the islanders are soon to lose their home. These actions will test their love, put their son’s future at risk, and ripple down through history.

I’m torn on this book, mainly due to my personal tastes. The book takes an age to get going, mostly because it is building the slow burn for Marie and Gabriel’s romance, and I was at the point of giving up on it. However, the historical context hooked me back in, a real tale of colonial betrayal sprinkled with what appear to be real court cases brought by the islanders to get their home back. This side of the book, the machinations and sheer injustice, this was the part of the book I stayed around for, and I even grew to care for the love story as well – very unlike me, but there you go.

I believe that another recent publication, “Diego Garcia”, also deals with the Chagos in some shape or form, so it’s good to see this dark part of history brought into light. As for this book, it’s a mild recommendation from me – I think people will like this more than me, but I found it enjoyable after a slow start.

What a painfully breathtaking beautiful love story.

I always intrigued of books based on true story and after reading this, it has left me speechless. I can't explain much about the emotions I've felt while reading this. Although I haven't know much about the Mauritius and Chagos Archipelago, especially the Diego Garcia Islands through this book I gained more information about them and felt for them and their struggles and efforts to bring back their birth-rights.. I just realized that this book is not only about both epic and tragic romantic love story of two different person (from their background, roots, and culture), but this is also a book of familial love shared between mother and son as well as father and son (this one truly makes my heart aching and so emotionals), love of the motherland, and most of all love shared between humans that know how to humanize people and treated them as equal. I'm sure this book has written beautifully in the original language, so I truly appreciate the translator that has absolutely did a magnificent job to convey the meanings and messages the author intended to deliver. This has been simply one of my favourite book this year because of how big the emotional impact it had on me.

First published in France in 2020; published in translation by Amazon Crossing on December 1, 2022

An Impossible Return takes place during one of the historical tragedies that most of us never hear about because it happened to someone else, to some other people in some other land. Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. It was under French control for a hundred years before it became a British colony. The people of Mauritius gained their independence in 1968, but the British, the US, and the new political leader of Mauritius cut a secret deal to split off the Chagos Archipelago, which became a British territory. The island of Diego Garcia was leased to the US for a naval base, a land grab justified by the “war on terror.” The lease required all Chagossians to be expelled before the base was constructed.

In an afterword, Caroline Laurent explains that she learned about the ordeal endured by Chagossians from her Mauritian mother. Laurent’s novel tells the story by creating a protagonist who, despite poverty and the absence of a formal education, fights back against injustice. The protagonist’s son brings the story forward, into the recent past, with intermittent commentary on a legal proceeding before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

The protagonist, Marie-Pierre Ladouceur, lives on Diego Garcia. She shares herself with two lovers as the mood strikes her. She has a daughter named Suzanne and doesn’t know which lover is the father. When a handsome young man named Gabriel Neymorin arrives on the island, Marie aggressively takes his virginity. Gabriel is enthused to discover the new sport of sex, although his petulant refusal to dance with Marie at a wedding motivates her to shag one of her former lovers. Marie greets her pregnancy with the hope that Gabriel is the father, but the baby does not have his fair skin or European features. Gabriel nevertheless assumes that Joséphin is his son and loves him as a father should.

Gabriel grew up in Mauritius with a brother and sister. His father sent him to the Chagos to work as the secretary for Marcel Mollinart, the colonial administrator. The assignment shattered Gabriel’s hope of studying in London, a dream that his more favored brother was allowed to pursue. Some of the story involves a family drama as the siblings become distant from each other and from their racist father. Another family drama occurs when Gabriel comes to suspect that he is not the biological father of Joséphin.

History begins to take center stage when Gabriel learns of the plan to evacuate Diego Garcia. The plan calls for volunteers to leave first (without telling them that they can’t return), followed by cutting off supply shipments to the Chagos, with the eventual forced evacuation of diehards who remain. Gabriel is sworn to secrecy by the British government and blackmailed by Mollinart to hide the truth from Marie. Gabriel’s dilemma leads to an even deeper schism in his relationship with Marie and Joséphin, particularly after Marie learns that Gabriel lied about the fate of her sister, who took a trip to Mauritius to buy supplies and failed to return as Marie expected.

The novel’s most moving scenes follow the upended lives of Chagossians who are cut off from supplies and later evacuated at gunpoint. The evacuation scene is horrifying, particularly for dog lovers. Marie and Gabriel are separated in the confusion, just as other families are torn apart. Travel to Mauritius in the hold of a ship (reminiscent of slave ships) is harrowing, as is life for Chagossians in a Mauritian slum that is torn apart by a cyclone with no support from the governments of the UK or Mauritius.

Racism explains why the British and Americans felt entitled to force black island residents to abandon their land, property, and culture, to endanger their lives, to separate family members, and to provide them with no support on Mauritius. Laurent illustrates racist attitudes in other ways: Mollinart’s wife can’t believe that he feels sympathy for black people; Gabriel’s father berates his sister for befriending an Indian girl on Mauritius.

Some plot elements could be the stuff of melodrama (the uncertainty of Joséphin’s paternity, the abusive relationship to which Marie’s sister clings, Gabriel's awareness of his father's abuse of a servant, an unexpected death), but even the most dramatic moments in the story of Marie and Gabriel are understated. Their story primarily exists as a frame for the larger story of Chagossians who were uprooted and forced to wait decades for the opportunity to return to their homeland. Marie becomes an unlikely spokeswoman, something of a media celebrity, in her efforts to force the UK to acknowledge its wrongdoing. The British try to take advantage of the Chagossians with an illusory settlement before they are forced to answer for their colonial sins. The larger historical context produces a stirring story that resonates with the kind of truth that refuses to be silenced.

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An Impossible Return: A Novel can be encapsulated in one word: Sagren.

Sagren is the Kreol word for sorrow and this is a feeling that lingers over Marie and Gabriel’s story like a rain cloud.

Laurent has written Marie and Gabriel’s story from 3 points of view: Marie, Gabriel, and an unknown third narrator (who is revealed later on in the book). I liked this approach as it gives the reader a more rounded view of the forced removal of the people living on Diego Garcia. Experiencing such a traumatic event through the eyes and memories of those who loved it is harrowing. While the characters each have their own experiences, they are bound by their shared sagren.

Laurent’s written style is dynamic. She moves seamlessly from evocative descriptions of Diego Garcia’s beauty to the cold dirty truth of life once Marie and her family arrive in Mauritius. Laurent creates and eases tension by combining short, sharp, tense sentences with flowery, adjective-filled phrases.

Zuckerman’s translation reads easily but maintains the essence of the original. I particularly liked that Zuckerman mirrored Laurent’s choice to use foreign words in the text. Not everyone is a fan of this as it can disrupt the reader but I find they enhance they enhance the story, they teach me something.

An Impossible Return: A Novel is a poignant story. It’s mesmerising and devastating in equal measure, heart-breaking but hopeful, a thoroughly captivating read.

An Impossible Return
by Caroline Laurent
Amazon Crossing
Pub Date: December 1, 2022
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
I will always be drawn to stories based on true events in history.

The events that take place in this book were unknown to me. This was a difficult read emotionally. The content is extremely heavy, this isn't a light-hearted, easy read. I felt a mixture of sadness and anger. The amount of deceit and suffering within this story is heartbreaking. I was blown away by the determination to move forward despite having everything ripped away, and ultimately being forced to start over with nothing.
4 stars

An Impossible Return is a heartwarming story. Beautifully written with warm characters.

Thank you to Caroline Laurent, NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book.

An Impossible Return by Caroline Laurent is an absolute remarkable debut!
A beautiful, heartbreaking and truly stunning story.
The courage that these characters show throughout the story moved me in ways I never thought possible. Strong and courageous characters who I deeply felt so connected to.
Beautifully written. Laurent kept me engrossed and wanting to do absolutely nothing but to keep my nose inside this book.
A compelling, thought-provoking read.
I can't wait to see what this author writes next!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

How can a story be so many different things? This is a huge love story as well as a devastatingly unjust one. I am blown away by her writing.

This one takes place in 1967 in the Chagos Archipelago, a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean. Island life is easy and peaceful for its residents. Marie works hard and loves her life, her island as well as being an independent woman. And then she meets Gabriel and life is even better. They are in love and nothing can touch that. Or can it?

Secrets one of them is keeping have the power to rip their life in two. The price of independence is high. And what happens next will rock the world.

A beautiful story.

NetGalley/ Amazon Crossing December 01,2022