A face is discreetly sketched on the back cover of the novel À l’ombre du manguier, just as a writer, Joe, loses himself, seeks himself and tells himself to a young woman named Maya, in this literary text with initiatory overtones. It should be noted in passing that Ella Nobac is not only a pseudonym, but also the anagram of one of the pillars of Mauritian literature of the XXe century Mauritian literature.
Inspired by a true story, this novel shows how, in the course of life’s twists and turns – symbolized in the preamble by Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man – the story of the committed writer’s life and his writing become places of encounter and transmission.
The author explains that this fictionalized biography is the result of many years of research, interviews and readings, as well as introspection. This philosophical quest, which adds another dimension to the function of literature and commitment, also serves to pay tribute to those who listen, to those who are searching for themselves and who are on a path brimming with life.
