Tout le papier est ici
"I'd hate people to think that I was being a bit crass and nicking an idea from what was a very tragic occasion," Pratchett said in an interview. "Partly for that reason, [at the time] I thought it would be too soon to turn this into a novel, and then, rather more than a year ago, I thought, really, I must get this one out of my head, because it's getting in the way of other things."
The book starts with a Krakatoa-type explosion of a volcano some distance from the island where the story takes place. "The ensuing tidal wave ... washes away or otherwise kills everyone on the island, apart from one boy known as Mau, who was out on the sea when the wave hits," Pratchett said. "And when he gets back, pretty much one of the first things he has to do is actually bury more or less everyone he's ever known, or at least those who have not been literally washed out to sea."
