Description

Nama knows Algeria only by the artifacts she encounters in her grandparents tiny apartment in Normandy the language her grandmother speaks but Nama cant understand the food her grandmother cooks and the precious things her grandmother carried when they fled But now Nama will travel to Algeria to see for herself what was left behindincluding their secrets

The Algerian War for Independence sent Namas grandfather on a journey of his own from wealthy olive grove owner and respected veteran of the First World War to refugee spurned as a harki by his fellow Algerians in the transit camps of southern France to immigrant barely scratching out a living in the north The battle against colonial rule broke apart communities opened deep rifts within families and saw the whims of those in even temporary power instantly overturn the lives of ordinary people Where does Namas family fit into this history How do they fit into Frances future

Alice Zeniters The Art of Losing is a powerful moving family novel that spans three generations across seventy years and two shores of the Mediterranean Sea It is a story of how we carry on in the face of loss loss of country identity language connection Most of all it is an immersive riveting excavation of the inescapable legacies of colonialism immigration family and war