Broken dreams – we didn’t ask for any of this!

Broken dreams – we didn’t ask for any of this!

Between the sun-drenched beaches of Réunion and the freezing winters of the Creuse, there is a sense of uprooting that Ghislaine and William will never truly understand. The youngest of six children, they grew up surrounded by their family, until the day a decision taken by adults turned their lives upside down. Lured by the promise of a better future and a good education, their parents signed a document they believed to be harmless. A few weeks later, the two children were sent thousands of kilometres from home, far from their island, far from their loved ones… never to return. Behind this family story lies a reality that has long been hushed up: that of the thousands of children from Réunion who were sent to mainland France between the 1960s and 1980s. Through the heart-wrenching eyes of Ghislaine and William, this novel – inspired by real events – tells the story of exile, separation and the stolen childhood of an entire generation. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)