We are in 1402, and it is known that the earth is flat. Beyond the great horizon lies emptiness, nothingness, into which one falls. It will take until the end of the 15th century to discover… But let us not get ahead of ourselves.
We are in 1402, and the Normans and the Gascons are setting out to conquer the Canary Islands. Isabelle, or the Twilight of the Guanches, is the story of this conquest where Westerners reveal themselves to be cruel and greedy. These islands, inhabited by a peaceful population, are conquered under the pretext of evangelization.
Then, the rivalries between Normans and Gascons lead to betrayals, with the Guanches, the indigenous population of these islands, as the first victims. They are captured and sold in the slave markets of Spain. Yves Jacob takes us into a novel where love finds a place, and sadly, so do violence and intolerance. A plea against colonialism and racism? Not really, his story goes beyond that, ultimately it’s worse.
The Guanches, although in their own home, have no rights, barely tolerated by these invaders from the north. They are to be baptized, made into Christians; the motive seems noble, but it serves only as a pretext.
Isabelle, the heroine of this novel, is a Guanche. She was captured, enslaved, and regained her freedom by becoming an interpreter between her people and the invaders. She herself encapsulates the whole story. A magnificent book, a maritime and exotic adventure, most importantly, a testimony to a people whose traces and memories have been erased, leaving nothing but this book.
Thierry Jan
