{"product_id":"this-strange-eventful-history-hc","title":"This Strange Eventful History HC","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content a-expander-content-expanded\" data-expanded=\"true\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA 2024 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Historical Fiction Book • One of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eWashington Post's\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e 10 Best Books of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eVogue\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024 • An \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best book of the Year • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eSlate\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of the Year • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eChicago Public Library\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Must-Read of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024 • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBookpage\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of the Year • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of the Year • A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best Book of 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn immersive, masterful story of a family born on the wrong side of history, from one of our finest contemporary novelists.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOver seven decades, from 1940 to 2010, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003epieds-noirs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e 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. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThis Strange Eventful History\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, told with historical sweep, 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInspired in part by long-ago stories from her own family’s history, Claire Messud animates her characters’ rich interior lives amid the social and political upheaval of the recent past. As profoundly intimate as it is expansive, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThis Strange Eventful History\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is “a tour de force…one of those rare novels that a reader doesn’t merely read but lives through with the characters” (Yiyun Li).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-header a-expander-partial-collapse-header\"\u003e\u003ca data-a-expander-toggle='{\"allowLinkDefault\":true, \"expand_prompt\":\"Read more\", \"collapse_prompt\":\"Read less\"}' class=\"a-declarative\" data-action=\"a-expander-toggle\" role=\"button\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"a-icon a-icon-extender-collapse\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-expander-prompt\"\u003eRead less\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Friends of the Mill Valley Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51716081811687,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/3397\/3991\/files\/2f3aedf64f8cb46fe065c304f3659efee7fd5454.jpg?v=1768344868","url":"https:\/\/friendsmvl.org\/products\/this-strange-eventful-history-hc","provider":"Friends of the Mill Valley Library","version":"1.0","type":"link"}