Last Life - Hardcover

Messud, Claire

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151004714 ISBN 13: 9780151004713

Publisher: Harcourt Brace International, 1999

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description

A novel about the stories we tell ourselves and the lies to which we cling

Synopsis

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. 35,000 first printing. Tour.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt Brace International
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0151004714
• ISBN 13: 9780151004713
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368