Claire Messud

A family torn apart by war, geography, politics, religion, over the course of three generations

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 TelegraphJune 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.

*A TIME MAGAZINE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024 **AN OPRAH DAILY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024**AN OBSERVER 2024 PICK**A GUARDIAN 2024 PICK*'One of those rare novels which a reader doesn't merely read but lives through with the characters . . . Claire Messud is a magnificent storyteller' Yiyun LiJune 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.

Nominerad till Bookerpriset 2024 Under sju decennier kämpar familjen Cassar för att hitta sin plats i tillvaron – separerade i andra världskrigets kaos, på flykt från ett komplicerat kolonialt hemland och, efter Algeriets självständighet, utan något hemland alls. Patriarken Gaston och hans fru Lucienne håller fast vid sin katolska tro och vårdar myten om den perfekta kärleken. Deras dotter, Denise, följer sina föräldrar från Buenos Aires till Toulon och bär på en stark känsla av orättvisa, medan storebrodern François flyttar till USA där han träffar Barbara, en kvinna som är så kulturellt annorlunda att de knappt kan förstå varandra. För att ge dem alla frid bestämmer sig François och Barbaras dotter Chloe för att berätta familjens begravda historier. Delvis inspirerad av sin egen familjs historia låter Claire Messud sina karaktärers rika inre liv ta form mitt i den sociala och politiska omvälvningen under efterkrigstiden. Det är en fängslande, mästerlig berättelse om en familj som föddes på fel sida av historien. ”En klok och insiktsfull roman om identitet och familj.” Times ”En episk familjeodyssé.” Guardian ”En tidlös resa genom livet och livet efter detta.” Chicago Review of Books Claire Messud är en av sin generations viktigaste författare. Hon är uppvuxen på olika platser men utbildad i USA. Hennes första roman nominerades till PEN/Faulkner Award. Det stora genombrottet kom med Kejsarens barn som nominerades till Bookerpriset och blev en bästsäljare.

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 story: of patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them and stifles their children; of Fran ois and Denise, devoted siblings connected by their family's strangeness; of Fran ois'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 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, This Strange Eventful History 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).

"I litteraturen lyfts ofta människors längtan fram som något vackert, som en livets lågmälda melankoli. Men Kvinnan på övervåningen visar längtans mörka baksida, vreden över det man aldrig fick ... Som en rödglödgad Alice Munro sliter Claire Messud av masken och skriver om den tysta kvinnans raseri."Jenny Lindh, M-magasin"En befriande story som slukar en från första sidan. Sommarens läsupplevelse nummer ett."Tara Moshizi, ELLE* * * * * Hur förbannad är jag?Det vill du inte veta.Det vill ingen veta något om.Nora Eldridge är fyrtiotvå år och lågstadielärare i Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hon lever ensam. På dagarna tröstar hon andras barn, på helgerna besöker hon sin gamle far. Nora är pålitlig och ansvarstagande, kommer alltid i tid, har alltid ett vänligt ord att säga. En gång i tiden drömde hon om ett annat slags liv, där skapande och utveckling stod i centrum. Men åren gick.En dag kommer en ny elev, den vackre och begåvade Reza, till klassen. Pojkens pappa Skandar är professor, hans mamma Sirena är konstnär. De är intellektuella och glamorösa, allt som Nora en gång velat vara. Mötet med familjen blir omvälvande och utvecklas till en förälskelse som skakar hela hennes tillvaro i grunden. De har alla pojken, mannen, kvinnan något som hon plötsligt inte kan leva utan och genom Sirena hittar hon tillbaka till konsten och verkliga, bultande känslor. Det blir ett år i hennes liv som förändrar allt.Och precis när hon är som mest sårbar, vidöppen för livet och redo att leva det, inträffar katastrofen.Claire Messud har skrivit en mästerlig och fängslande roman som tar läsaren i anspråk från första meningen. Noras monolog är laddad med en explosiv kraft. Det handlar om kvinnlighet och skapande, om det pris konsten betingar och om vår längtan efter förvandling.* * * * *"Messuds roman kan bli en feministisk klassiker"Annika Koldenius, Borås Tidning"I Sverige har vi ju till exempel Inger Edelfeldt, som ofta skildrat den här sortens kvinnor och form av liv - det där som aldrig riktigt blev precis som man tänkt. Och Claire Messud gör det med finess, borrandet och bökandet i själslivet, hon har en självklar pondus som romanförfattare."Anneli Dufva, SR Kulturnytt"en klassiker i sin genre, en bok som kan läsas som lika delar skräckspegel och tröst ... Det är, kort sagt, en fantastisk berättelse om ett ganska vanligt vuxenliv, långt från samtidens självförverkligande superlativ. Man måste inte läsa, men man är ganska dum om man låter bli."Anna Hellsten, Sydsvenska Dagbladet"Claire Messud har skrivit ett underbart, psykologiskt skarpt och oändligt sorgset porträtt av en alldeles vanlig människa, som precis som alla sådana visar sig vara ytterst unik. Det är mycket vackert."Rikard Flyckt, Jönköpings-Posten"Klaustrofobiskt om försvunna drömmar"Ann Lingebrandt, Norrköpings Tidningar"Messud är en driven stilist, och hon följer inga givna spår. Hon sveper romanen i Noras vrede, en hejdlös ilska som ramar in den lite blåögda hängivenhet som präglar större delen av berättelsen. Samtidigt skriver Messud snyggt, och initierat, om konsten och dess stora krafter, och om hur de båda kvinnornas konstnärliga skapande korresponderar med deras liv, kanske mer än de anar."Johanna Gredfors Ottesen, Helsingborgs Dagblad"Författarens osvikliga känsla för olika miljöer och detaljerade skildringar av dess sociala och kulturella särarter är av yppersta klass, helt i paritet med kollegor och landsmän som Richard Ford och Jonathan Franzen. En olycksbådande bladvändare om en av världens många självförintande kvinnor som fått nog - från första meningen till den sista. ... raskt och tonsäkert översatt av Eva Johansson ... "Martin Lagerholm, Kristianstadsbladet"... nyanserat och psykologiskt precist i en nästan thrillerartad stil."Nina Lekander, Expressen

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 story: of patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them and stifles their children; of Fran ois and Denise, devoted siblings connected by their family's strangeness; of Fran ois'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 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, This Strange Eventful History 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).

Moving between colonial Algeria, the south of France, and New England, The Last Life is Claire Messud's "masterly" (Wall Street Journal) sophomore novel of lies and ghosts, love and honor. When shots from a grandfather's rifle shatter the LaBasse family's quiet integrity, long-hidden shame emerges: a son abandoned by the family before he was even born, a mother whose identity is not what she has claimed, a father whose act of defiance brings Hotel Bellevue--the family business--to its knees. Unforgettably narrated by a fifteen-year-old girl with a ruthless regard for truth, The Last Life is a "phenomenally controlled tour de force" (Sarah Kerr, Vogue)."Messud textures her novel with all the sensory pleasures that bind us to life, and fills it with characters who helplessly respond to each other's unspoken signals and nuances."--The New Yorker"Original, intense, and gripping."--Gabriele Annan, New York Review of Books

In her fiction, Claire Messud "has specialized in creating unusual female characters with ferocious, imaginative inner lives" (Ruth Franklin, New York Times Magazine). Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write opens a window on Messud's own life: a peripatetic upbringing; a warm, complicated family; and, throughout it all, her devotion to art and literature.In twenty-six intimate, brilliant, and funny essays, Messud reflects on a childhood move from her Connecticut home to Australia; the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt; and a trip to Beirut, where her pied-noir father had once lived, while he was dying. She meditates on contemporary classics from Kazuo Ishiguro, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk, and Valeria Luiselli; examines three facets of Albert Camus and The Stranger; and tours her favorite paintings at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. In the luminous title essay, she explores her drive to write, born of the magic of sharing language and the transformative powers of "a single successful sentence."Together, these essays show the inner workings of a dazzling literary mind. Crafting a vivid portrait of a life in celebration of the power of literature, Messud proves once again "an absolute master storyteller" (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times).

'An uplifting work: complex, precise and bracing' Susie Boyt, Financial Times'A profound book about the intrication of literature and life, about the modest, miraculous ways art helps us to live' Garth GreenwellIn twenty-nine intimate, brilliant and funny essays, Claire Messud reflects on a childhood move from her Connecticut home to Australia; the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt; and a trip to Beirut, where her pied-noir father had once lived, while he was dying. She meditates on contemporary classics from Kazuo Ishiguro, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk and Valeria Luiselli; examines three facets of Albert Camus and The Stranger; and tours her favorite paintings at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Crafting a vivid portrait of a life in celebration of the power of literature, Messud proves once again 'an absolute master storyteller' (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times).'I can think of few writers capable of such thrilling seriousness expressed with so lavish a gift' Rachel Cusk, Evening Standard

'A profound book about the intrication of literature and life, about the modest, miraculous ways art helps us to live' Garth Greenwell'I can think of few writers capable of such thrilling seriousness expressed with so lavish a gift' Rachel Cusk, Evening StandardIn her fiction, Claire Messud 'has specialised in creating unusual female characters with ferocious, imaginative inner lives' (Ruth Franklin, New York Times Magazine). Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write opens a window on Messud's own life: a peripatetic upbringing; a warm, complicated family; and, throughout it all, her devotion to art and literature.In twenty-nine intimate, brilliant and funny essays, Messud reflects on a childhood move from her Connecticut home to Australia; the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt; and a trip to Beirut, where her pied-noir father had once lived, while he was dying. She meditates on contemporary classics from Kazuo Ishiguro, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk and Valeria Luiselli; examines three facets of Albert Camus and The Stranger; and tours her favorite paintings at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. In the luminous title essay, she explores her drive to write, born of the magic of sharing language and the transformative powers of 'a single successful sentence'.Together, these essays show the inner workings of a dazzling literary mind. Crafting a vivid portrait of a life in celebration of the power of literature, Messud proves once again 'an absolute master storyteller' (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times).

In her fiction, Claire Messud "has specialized in creating unusual female characters with ferocious, imaginative inner lives" (Ruth Franklin, New York Times Magazine). Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write opens a window on Messud's own life: a peripatetic upbringing; a warm, complicated family; and, throughout it all, her devotion to art and literature.In twenty-six intimate, brilliant, and funny essays, Messud reflects on a childhood move from her Connecticut home to Australia; the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt; and a trip to Beirut, where her pied-noir father had once lived, while he was dying. She meditates on contemporary classics from Kazuo Ishiguro, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk, and Valeria Luiselli; examines three facets of Albert Camus and The Stranger; and tours her favorite paintings at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. In the luminous title essay, she explores her drive to write, born of the magic of sharing language and the transformative powers of "a single successful sentence."Together, these essays show the inner workings of a dazzling literary mind. Crafting a vivid portrait of a life in celebration of the power of literature, Messud proves once again "an absolute master storyteller" (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times).