Synopsis "Magnetite: A Voyage across Seven Continents over Three Centuries (in English)"
Two young scientists, Don from Canada, and Katrina from Italy, are cycling in the Highlands of Scotland in early summer. Unbeknownst to them, they are both going to take a research fellowship at the university of Aberdeen where they will be engaged in a project on Bird Migration. Immigration is as old as the world. The population movement in this story is limited to the last three centuries, but involves all seven continents. To this day, the Highland Clearance is a sore point for many Highlanders. The lairds, keen to increase their profits, force out Highlanders, eking out a living on their none-too-fertile soil.Their aim is to replace them with sheep, a much more lucrative occupation for them. They enthusiastically engineer their relocation in Canada and North America. In India, some regions are prone to drought making the land unsuited for agriculture. Two friends from Bihar, worried about the welfare of their families, arrive at the conclusion that they have no future in their part of the world, and having heard that Calcutta is being transformed into a land of plenty by the British East India Company, decide to trek there, taking months to arrive. They find that they are not welcome by the locals, and end up in the bleak but beautiful Sunderbans, where they work their fingers to the bones to provide for their families. The land is notorious for its high salt contents, making agriculture difficult. The fact that it is in the path of cyclones does not add to its appeal, as their meagre crops are regularly destroyed by storms and floods. When they hear that the Company are keen to send people to the colonies, Fiji, Mauritius, Demerara etc ... all expenses paid, they think their troubles are over, and take the plunge once again, becoming indentured labourers. In the bustle, a young mother with two children become separated from her husband and a child, and finds herself in Mauritius with her young son. A resourceful woman, she copes with many obstacles and survives triumphantly. Some other migrants find themselves in Guyana, Fiji, Trinidad... European and Arab traders capture peaceful villagers in Africa, Inhambane, and take them, in inhumane conditions across the oceans, to be sold as slaves to work on the fields for the enrichment of plantation owners. Midala is captured after a strongly armed little army marches in his village, killing those who offered resistance, including his wife. He is taken to Mauritius where labourers are needed to work on the sugar cane fields after slavery is abolished. He does not take this lying down, and will make desperate efforts to escape and go back to Inhambane. In Tolpuddle, Dorset, agricultural workers, paid a pittance are shocked when they hear that their wages were going to be reduced because they dared ask for a rise. They protest, and are arrested for rioting, and are condemned to transportation to New South Wales. In Italy, a strong-willed young woman, born out of wedlock, finds it difficult to adapt to the hostile environment and leaves home to go work for the British army at Monte Cassino, and meets and fall in love with a young recruit from Mauritius, but as a war is raging on, they become separated. In Ukraine, a young man is forced to choose between the resistance and collaborating with the Nazis. He is devastated by his part in the massacre of Jews at Babi Yar, and tries to atone. After the war, he emigrates to London where many young men from war-damaged areas can find work in the building industry. In their new homes, some prosper, but most continue struggling against heavy odds. They learn to survive, fall in love, marry and have children, and the cycle continues. Don and Katrina are issues of these ancestors.
