Why read This Strange Eventful History?

Book cover of This Strange Eventful History

Book description

Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the pieds-noirs 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. This Strange Eventful History, told with historical sweep, is above all a family…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked This Strange Eventful History as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Ronald Bruce St John

Author

A fictitious history of the sweet sadness of life of a pied-noir family (French family with ties to Algeria) displaced after World War II.

From Ronald's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Sharrona Pearl

Author

The novel immersed me into a world and a family across time and space.

From Sharrona's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Marlene G. Fine

Author

A sweeping family saga of a French Algerian family, who are pied noirs--people of European descent who lived in Algeria during French colonial rule from 1830-1962.

I was swept along by the story of a family torn apart by World War II and then displaced in the diaspora. Although Messud's family isn't Jewish, their story reminded me of my family and our journey in the diaspora.

The sheer scope of the time period covered, the emotional range of the characters and their lives, and the sumptuousness of Messud's language were just glorious. It was a feast of a book.

From Marlene's 3 favorite reads in 2024.