In the late seventeenth century, Poncet, a French herbalist, travels; To live in Cairo, one of the centers of an unusual alliance between the Ottoman Sultanate and one of the European kingdoms: France.
Although he works in secret, Because he does not have a legal certificate, his fame reaches the French consul, in whom he finds the ideal person to lead a secret embassy from the French king to the Negus, King of Abyssinia, whose declared mission is to treat the Negus, while it seeks to restore French-Catholic control over Abyssinia, in a time of religious and expansionist conflicts. Which the European kingdoms are fighting among themselves.
Poncet soon discovers that the exceptional circumstances of his journey to achieve the goals of the King of France and the Pope are - alone - the solution to the exceptional obstacles that separate him from the one he loves.
In his work, which won the Goncourt Prize for First Novel and the Mediterranean Prize, Ruffin does not content himself with presenting historical facts, but rather takes us with him on a journey full of life between the neighborhoods of Cairo, the mountains of Abyssinia, and the palaces of France. To tell an exciting adventure about love, friendship, and sacrifice in an era full of conflicts, conspiracies, and betrayals.
Sofia is a bold and hot-tempered child, unlike her grandmother, who takes care of her after her mother's death.
Every summer, you go on a new adventure together of a different kind: exploring parts of the island you live on, meeting new types of birds, swimming in the dangerous bay without Sofia’s father knowing, sleeping in a tent, building a miniature model of Venice, and writing a book about insects. .
Without addressing their true feelings, they spend their days in endless conversations and discussions about everything: the meaning of life and death, the nature of God and Satan, heaven and hell, and the concepts of love, family, friendship, and tolerance.
By creating an integrated world on a small, isolated island, Tova Jansson writes - in a magical style, and simple sentences loaded with profound concepts - a sweet novel about the friendship between a child who begins her journey in life, and her grandmother, who is approaching the end of this journey.
