Claire Messud

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

A “mesmerizing” novel from the acclaimed author of The Emperor’s Children that is “as artful as it is affecting” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). 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

The Last Life

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California

The Last Life is the story of the teenage Sagesse LaBasse and her family, French Algerian emigrants. It is set in colonial Algeria, the south of France, and New England. The LaBasse family had always believed in the permanence of their world, in which stories created from the past had the weight of truth, in which cynicism was the defense against disaster. But when shots from the grand-father's rifle shatter an evening's quiet, their world begins to crumble, the reality to emerge: the bastard son abandoned by the family before he was even born; Sagesse's handicapped brother for whom the family cared with Catholic dignity; her American mother who pretended to be French; the trigger-happy grandfather; and Sagesse's father, whose act of defiance brought down the Hotel Bellevue, her grandfather's house built on rock, to its knees. Observed with a fifteen-year-old's ruthless regard for truth, The Last Life is a beautifully told novel of secrets and ghosts, love and honor, the stories we tell ourselves, and the lies to which we cling.


The Last Life ARC

In a story set between North Africa, France, and New England, the Algerian LaBasse family's secrets begin to unravel--a trigger-happy grandfather, a mother who pretended to be French, and a bastard child that was abandoned by the family before he was even born. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

Category - Fiction / General Fiction

Format - Paperback

Condition - Fair

Listed - 5 months ago

Views - 5

Ships From - Pennsylvania

Est. Publication Date - Nov 2022

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The Last Life

ISBN: 9780393881790

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Category - Fiction / General Fiction

Format - Paperback

Condition - Fair

Listed - 5 months ago

Views - 5

Ships From - Pennsylvania

Est. Publication Date - Nov 2022

Additional Information

The Last Life

ISBN: 9780393881790

Publisher Description

Tags

The Last Life

By:

$1.50

Meet the seller

Discover more

The Last Life

By: Claire Messud

More from this seller

Additional titles by Claire Messud

'The Last Life' readers also enjoyed:

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