LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024

'An epic family odyssey' Guardian, Book of the Day

Over seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the Cassar family is buffeted by conflict, struggling to find its feet - 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 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.

Inspired in part by her own family's history, Claire Messud animates her characters' rich interior lives amid the social and political upheaval of the recent past. This Strange Eventful History is an immersive, masterful story of a family born on the wrong side of history.

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

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

• We started tracking this book on May 25, 2024.
• This book was £11.49 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 7 times in the past 370 days.
• The current price of this book is £5.99 last checked 3 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is £0.99.
• The lowest price to date was £0.99 last reached on April 1, 2025.
• This book has been £0.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £11.49 last reached on May 1, 2025.
• This book has been £11.49 4 times since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionContemporary Fiction

• Publication Date: May 7, 2024
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 449 Pages
• File Size: 56 KB