Aux Belles Abyssines
Prix Nicolas Bouvier 2013
À la fin de l'été 1939, Alban est retrouvé sans vie dans sa cabine de l'Étoile-du-Sud, le patrouilleur qu'il commandait à Djibouti, au carrefour de l'océan Indien et de la mer Rouge.
Désigné pour lui succéder, Pierre arrive dans une ville en état de siège, sous la menace de la guerre imminente. Lui qui connaissait son ami mieux que quiconque refuse de croire ce qui se murmure dans la société coloniale : se sentant incapable de mener une mission périlleuse, il aurait préférer se donner la mort.
Pour découvrir une vérité qui ne peut être dite, Pierre va devoir emprunter le chemin parcouru par Alban, traquant les indices, rencontrant des purs et des lâches, des ambitieux et des révoltés, des cyniques et des résignés, tous hantés par le souvenir d'une insaisissable silhouette féminine.
- Vermillon
- Paru le 10/01/2013
- Genre : Littérature française
- 192 pages - 140 x 205 mm
- EAN : 9782710370093
- ISBN : 9782710370093
Foreign Rights
Aux Belles Abyssines
All rights available
Presentation
In 1939, as the war breaks out, Pierre Jouhannaud, a young naval officer, arrives in Djibouti, at the junction of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. He has been called to take command of the patrol boat Étoile du Sud in replacement of his friend Alban de Perthes, who has been found dead on board. When the young officer tries to investigate the circumstances of his friend’s death, he is faced with a wall of silence. Not only that, but the boat’s pitiful condition doesn’t allow him to leave the port.
One day, Marquet, the chief of the navy, reveals to Pierre that Alban committed suicide on the eve of a perilous mission. The suicide and the boat’s failures have to remain secret in order not to demoralize the crew, and to avoid alerting spies, as the French Somali coast is surrounded by territories occupied by fascist Italy. Pierre refuses to accept the story of his friend’s cowardice. He starts to suspect that Marquet has lied to him when he discovers Alban’s violin on a market stall. A little bit later, in the cabin of Potemkine, the mysterious handyman of the boat, he finds Alban’s jacket. One of its pockets contains the identity photo of a young Ethiopian. This clue will lead Pierre to the truth.
Bernard Bonnelle was born in Paris in 1961. Naval officer from 1986 to 2002, he sailed on board of various warships, from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf through the Pacific and the Indian oceans. Since 2002, he has been pursuing a career in the civil service. He is the author of Les Huiles (Les Éditions Michel de Maule, 2011), Aux Belles Abyssines (La Table Ronde, 2013) and Les Serviteurs inutiles (La Table Ronde, 2016).
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