Keynote
A breathless story of love and survival in war-torn Algeria-past and present
Book Title
The Lovers of Algeria
Subtitle
A Novel
Cover Image
- "Fiction should never be a kind of political wish fulfullment, but when scripted powerfully, it can imagine the impossible. In this searing and important tale, Anouar Benmalek has done just that."—Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Body
Nine-year-old Jallal is old enough to know that his life in Algeria is precarious at best. Having run away from home, he survives by selling peanuts and single cigarettes on the street. The proposal by the elderly Swiss woman named Anna is shocking and preposterous: go to the mountains with her, as a translator, so she can find her lost lover from decades ago and pray over the graves of their murdered children.
Anna and Jallal's journey is wrought with danger and unspeakable tragedy. It was under similar circumstances that Anna first met the Arab Nasreddine. Ousted from the traveling circus where she performed as a trapeze artist, she had little choice but to accept Nasreddine's dangerous offer to live with him in a makeshift tent. But it was here, amid poverty, racism, and terrifyingly random violence, that they fell in love.
A best seller in France, The Lovers of Algeria is an unflinchingly candid story about a country where terrorism and government corruption are commonplace. As Anna and Nasreddine, beaten by time and memory, circle each other in Algeria, Anouar Benmalek shows with heart-wrenching detail that love can endure even the most inhuman conditions.
A Lannan Translation Series Selection
Anna and Jallal's journey is wrought with danger and unspeakable tragedy. It was under similar circumstances that Anna first met the Arab Nasreddine. Ousted from the traveling circus where she performed as a trapeze artist, she had little choice but to accept Nasreddine's dangerous offer to live with him in a makeshift tent. But it was here, amid poverty, racism, and terrifyingly random violence, that they fell in love.
A best seller in France, The Lovers of Algeria is an unflinchingly candid story about a country where terrorism and government corruption are commonplace. As Anna and Nasreddine, beaten by time and memory, circle each other in Algeria, Anouar Benmalek shows with heart-wrenching detail that love can endure even the most inhuman conditions.
A Lannan Translation Series Selection
List Price
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About the Author
Praise
- "[A] compelling, richly plotted novel of love and redemption."—Entertainment Weekly
- "As the evocative language dramatizes its subject—terrorism and its consequences—the effect is chilling and relentless."—San Francisco Chronicle
- “A captivating novel.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
