This book is a photo journal written by a teacher throughout the 2010/11 school year and an anthropological analysis.

The diary shows the fragility of life on this French island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is marked in part by insecurity and by the influx of illegal immigrants from some of the poorest countries in the world.

The author takes the reader into the life of a teacher, of a class, of a high school, of the national education system, and into his intimate life.