I don't know much about Mauritius. I'm certain it has some European colonial history, definitely French and possibly also British. But I'm going there, so I decided to see what I could pick up from a novel.
I selected The Prospector, by J. M. G. Le Clézio. I didn't know anything about the author before beginning, and only learned when I got to the "About The Author" page at the end that he's kind of a big deal in his native France. He lives part time in Mauririus, and it shows in how lovingly he writes about the island.
The Prospector is a tale of sorrow and growth and hope.
We meet our hero as a young boy, running wild through the woods with his childhood friend. We follow him through family tragedy and on his mad crusade to realize his deceased father's dreams. He finds love, then war, then comes home again. We follow him as his most important relationships change and are lost to time and circumstance. We see him cope with those changes, until all that matters to him is gone.
I would not, you might guess from the above description, call this as a happy story. But it is so beautifully told. The words and sentences flow effortlessly one after another, expertly conveying the details of place (which, collectively, could rightfully be considered a major character) and the feeling of longing for something which remains just out of reach.