Attacking Earth and Sun - by Mathieu Belezi (Paperback)

About the Book

"This searing historical novel immerses us in the brutal early days of the nineteenth-century French colonization of Algeria. In search of a prosperous life, Sâeraphine and her family brave the dangerous journey to France's newly conquered Algerian territory, along with five hundred likeminded citizens. But the realities of the colony soon give the lie to the French government's promises: inadequate shelter, hostile weather, sickness, and a native population whose anger and desperation threaten to boil over into violence. As the settlers gradually, painfully establish a community and a church in this foreign land, the French army wreaks devastation on the Algerian people and their villages. Through the eyes of a soldier-constantly reminded by his captain, "You're no angels!"-we witness the shocking cruelty with which they attempt to quell resistance. With chiseled, haunting prose reminiscent of Faulkner, Mathieu Belezi condenses years of historical research into a powerfully human account. Far from the pioneer dream sold by Western powers, Attacking Earth and Sun vividly exposes the hell that was colonization"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

This searing historical fiction immerses us in the brutal early days of the 19th-century French colonization of Algeria.

The highly anticipated English-language debut of a prize-winning author who tackles the taboo of France's colonial past.

In search of a prosperous life, Séraphine and her family brave the dangerous journey to France's newly conquered Algerian territory, along with five hundred likeminded citizens. But the realities of the colony soon give the lie to the French government's promises: inadequate shelter, hostile weather, sickness, and a native population whose anger and desperation threaten to boil over into violence.

As the settlers gradually, painfully establish a community and a church in this foreign land, the French army wreaks devastation on the Algerian people and their villages. Through the eyes of a soldier--constantly reminded by his captain, "You're no angels!"--we witness their shocking cruelty as they attempt to quell resistance.

With chiseled, haunting prose reminiscent of Faulkner, Mathieu Belezi condenses years of historical research into a powerfully human account. Attacking Earth and Sun vividly exposes the hell that was colonization, far from the pioneer dream sold by Western powers.

Review Quotes

"Belezi's scathing English-language debut depicts the early-19th-century colonization of Algeria as a Boschian tableau of arrogance and atrocity...this mesmerizes with its righteous and often poetic anger." --Publishers Weekly

"Mathieu Belezi doesn't pull any punches: he puts forth his vision of French colonization in Algeria." --Leïla Slimani, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny

"[Belezi] captures the racism that underpinned colonization and the greed that led to land expropriation, but also the doubts that gnawed at settlers who fled France to escape poverty." --New York Times

"Belezi prods this dark period of French history with care, prompting questions about how France will choose to teach its children about Algeria and how other colonial powers can reconcile their own pasts with the consequences they still live with." --Chicago Review of Books

"[A] magnetic novel, with an impressive rhythmic power." --Le Monde

About the Author

Mathieu Belezi is the author of more than a dozen novels. His writing career began with Le petit roi, which won the Marguerite-Audoux Prize in 1999. His novel Attacking Earth and Sun has won the Prix Livre Inter and Le Monde Literary Prize. Having traveled widely and even taught in Louisiana, he now divides his time between France and Italy.

Lara Vergnaud is a translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from the French. She is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and has been nominated for the National Translation Award. She lives in France.