This Strange Eventful History

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024


'[A] wise and insightful novel about identity and family' The Times, Book of the Day

'An epic family odyssey... Ambitious and compelling' Guardian, Book of the Day

'A rich, sprawling saga... This Strange Eventful History may be Messud's finest book' Sunday Telegraph

June 1940. As Paris falls to the Germans, Gaston Cassar - honorable servant of France, devoted husband and father, currently posted as naval attache in Salonica - bids farewell to his beloved wife, aunt and children, placing his faith in God that they will be reunited after the war. But escaping the violence of that cataclysm is not the same as emerging unscathed. The family will never again be whole.

A work of breathtaking historical sweep and vivid psychological intimacy, This Strange Eventful History charts the Cassars' unfolding story as its members move between Salonica and Algeria, the US, Cuba, Canada, Argentina, Australia and France - their itinerary shaped as much by a search for an elusive wholeness, as by the imperatives of politics, faith, family, industry and desire.