Used book – Eldorado, Laurent Gaudé

The dual journey of a border policeman who loses his sense of purpose and a young Sudanese migrant trying to reach the European Eldorado.

In Catania, Commander Salvatore Piracci patrols the maritime borders. A guardian of the European citadel, he has been sailing off the Italian coast for twenty years, intercepting boats laden with undocumented migrants who have attempted the great adventure by sacrificing all their miserable fortune… sometimes sacrificing their lives, as it is not uncommon for the vessels that the commander's frigate approaches to have become floating tombs, abandoned by the crews who had promised safe passage and fled under cover of night. One day, it is precisely a survivor from one of these death boats who approaches Commander Salvatore Piracci, and this encounter will turn his life upside down. Touched by the story she tells him, he gradually becomes consumed by doubt, by compassion, by humanity… and embarks on a great journey.

In Sudan, for Soleiman and his brother Jamal, it's the big day: they have finally saved enough money to leave the country and the continent for a better life. But the young men are soon separated by fate. Soleiman meets Boubakar the lame, and it is with this new companion that he will continue – from Al Zuwarah to Ghardaïa, Oujda, then Ceuta… – his journey towards the European Eldorado.

Because there is no border that hope cannot cross, Laurent Gaudé gives voice to those who, at the cost of their illusions, their identity, and sometimes their lives, dare to set out to invent a promised land for themselves.