Hello

My Story

I revived an old “vein” and wrote what I, myself, prefer to read – A FEEL GOOD NOVEL Stories like this one where you’d like to participate in the action, that sweeps you along and captures the reader from generation to generation, that you put down with a smile on your face, that touches you.
And the Rainbow touched Mauritius, is the first book of a trilogy, 348 pages amply spiced with passion, friendship, romance, humour and an abundance patriotism for a breathtakingly beautiful environment.

My dormant vein first showed itself more than thirty years ago when I, during my last year of high school in Karlstad, received some grants for essay. On top of that I won an assay competition. I was enthusiastically cheered on by my Swedish teacher to begin writing. The truth of the matter is that, besides Swedish, English, history and math, my grades from gymnasium weren’t much to brag about.

My family and I have been frequent travellers to Mauritius for a period of twenty years. To me it was love at first sight. Not only with the country itself, but also its people. This colourful mix of individuals living side by side in harmony on a small area.

Several trips to Mauritius and a good deal of research-work is the foundation of my book. In jest I say that I have a friend in every sugar cane, I´ve really dug deep into the soil. All the books about Mauritius that I´ve plowed through, in order to be able to incorporate the history of the country into my story.

During my second trip to Mauritius, in January of 1994, I saw a soccer game, the Fire Brigade took on the Sunrise Flacq. In all honesty I must avow that I hadn´t the slightest inclination to go. But during the evening I experienced a coming together, one of the most powerful I´ve ever felt. On the stands Hindi, Creole, Christian and Moslem stood side by side. There where families of several generations gathered. Who had come from a long day´s work as fishermen, cane-field workers, from shops. As I stood amongst them I learned from an elderly man that he had invited his children and grandchildren to the arena. This was not a given for him – nothing he could afford to do every week. But it was given for him to offer me what he had bought for the family to eat and drink. At that moment I felt this was my true home.

More than 30 years later, I took the advice of my Swedish teacher not only by writing a book, but also in sustaining a partly traditional use of linguistics. I left Karlstad and the poet Gustav Fröding for Stockholm. It is the same length of time that I have worked as a flight attendant for Linjeflyg and SAS. The meaning in Fröding’s poem lives on; ”there was dancing down the way on Saturday evening; the melody from music and laughter drifted throughout the surroundings”. Music, dance, happiness and a belief in the future makes up the main thread in And the Rainbow touched Mauritius – the first book of an trilogy.

Dear readers, welcome to my Mauritius, an intoxicating world and almost impossible to resist!

Annika