Le Goût du lait sauvage [The Taste of Wild Milk] is a new novel by Michel Rodigneaux, published this year by L’Editions de l’Harmattan:

Description: To be born in the Caribbean and to go live in France does not portend an easy destiny…  the destiny of Armand Cardoso is as uncommon as the man himself. Bewitched by music and women, the talented clarinet player meets Isabelle, a young sparkling Parisian, curious about everything; this is the beginning of an all-consuming passion. From an unusual perspective, this book shows the difficulties encountered by people from the French Caribbean to assimilate to life in France. Likewise, it shows the difficulties undergone by those métropolitains that, during the period between the wars, welcomed them and recognized their qualities. At the same time as he tells the epic of Caribbean musicians who settled in Europe, the author tells the story of a formidable instrument of integration and miscegenation: Blomet Street’s “Bal nègre.”

Michel Rodigneaux was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. A former student of the Centre of Development Affairs (CPA), he studied law, history and international relations in France and the United States. During his career, after having held several managerial positions in Guadeloupe, he represented the French Development Agency in various countries of the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. A descendant of a privateer captain, his genealogical research led him to study the history of the pirate phenomenon. He is chevalier of the Legion of Honour and officer of the National Order of Merit.

For full article, see http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=35578