{"product_id":"this-strange-eventful-history-9780393635041","title":"This Strange Eventful History","description":"\u003cp\u003eOver seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the \u003cem\u003epieds-noirs\u003c\/em\u003e Cassars live in an itinerant state--separated in the chaos of World War II, running from a complicated colonial homeland, and, after Algerian independence, without a homeland at all. \u003cem\u003eThis Strange Eventful History\u003c\/em\u003e, told with historical sweep, is above all a family story: of patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them and stifles their children; of François and Denise, devoted siblings connected by their family's strangeness; of François's union with Barbara, a woman so culturally different they can barely comprehend one another; of Chloe, the result of that union, who believes that telling these buried stories will bring them all peace.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInspired in part by long-ago stories from her own family's history, Claire Messud animates her characters' rich interior lives amid the social and political upheaval of the recent past. As profoundly intimate as it is expansive, \u003cem\u003eThis Strange Eventful History\u003c\/em\u003e is \"a tour de force...one of those rare novels that a reader doesn't merely read but lives through with the characters\" (Yiyun Li).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e W. W. Norton \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/14\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780393635041\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 448\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2023 pg. 10\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2024\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Claire Messud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43766862446773,"sku":"9780393635041","price":25.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_848bcd0c-7d29-4f08-9170-7963c8e9cc39.jpg?v=1710819409","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/this-strange-eventful-history-9780393635041","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}