People Like Them
Samira Sedira
£8.99
Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA DAGGER IN TRANSLATION
‘Disturbing and powerful … I loved it’ – Leila Slimani, author of Lullaby
‘Icy and chilling… In sharply drawn sentences, Sedira summons the beauty of a small French village, and the shocking acts of the people inside it’ – Flynn Berry, author of the Reese Whitherspoon Book Club pick, Northern Spy
You sprinted all the way to the river. What were you running from?
Anna and Constant Guillot and their two daughters live in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, leading simple lives mostly unaffected by the outside world – that is until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois arrive with their three children.
The new family’s impressive chalet and expensive cars are in stark contrast with the modesty of those of their neighbours, yet despite their initial differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy friendship. But when both families come under financial strain, the underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship reach breaking point, culminating in act of abhorrent violence.
With piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People Like Them asks the questions: How could a seemingly ordinary person commit the most extraordinary crime? And how could their loved ones ever come to terms with what they’d done?
Lullaby meets Little Fires Everywhere, this intense, suspenseful prize-winning novel explores the darker side of human nature – and the terrible things people are capable of.
*Winner of the Prix Eugene Dabit*
Publisher Review
People Like Them is disturbing and powerful. It explores the topics of racism and jealousy in a very subtle way. I loved it -- Leila Slimani Sedira packs a powerful punch, exploring the class-race divide ...The graphic murders stand in stark contrast to Sedira's subtle accounting of Constant's tortured path ... Deeply unsettling yet compulsively readable * Kirkus * Icy and chilling, People Like Them is an investigation both of a crime and of the society that nurtured it. The novel's precise, vivid writing brings to mind two other knock-outs from France, The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrere and Based on a True Story by Delphine de Vignan. In sharply drawn sentences, Sedira summons the beauty of a small French village, and the shocking acts of the people inside it -- Flynn Berry Dark and unsettling and brilliantly concise ... I'll be thinking about it for a long time -- Jane Casey Perfectly executed, and prize-worthy * La Marseilleise * Unflinching. Every word in this crisply told story matters, and every seemingly-casual moment is laced with dread, daring you to look away. You won't -- Ani Katz
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