THE COUNTRY OF OTHERS, volume one, War, War, War, translated from the French by Sam Taylor

315pp., paperback, First English Language Edition, London, 2021

First published in 2020 in French as Le pays des autres.

The first volume of a trilogy, set between 1946 and 2016. At the end of WWII, Mathilde, a young Frenchwoman, marries Amine, a Muslim Moroccan who fought for the French, and settles on his farm in Morocco.

“Slimani has never shied away from complicated aspects of human nature ... A story about the complexities of interracial marriage in the 1940s, womanhood in an intensely patriarchal society, and the Moroccan struggle for independence from French colonial rule.” The Cut

“The world of this novel - Morocco after World War II, leading up to the revolt against French colonialism - is beautifully created. Personal life, social life, everyday life spring vividly from the page, and we feel deeply for the family caught in the middle of the conflict of history. An exceptional, powerful novel from this justly celebrated writer.” Salman Rushdie, author of Midnight's Children

“A powerful and compelling family saga - about women and subjugation, otherness and belonging, and the often conflicting loyalty to both family and country - written with a deftness that has come to define Leila Slimani’s writing. It will no doubt resonate in the reader’s mind long after the final sentence is read.”  Christine Mangan, author of Tangerine and Palace of the Drowned

“Who better than Slimani to write a great contemporary novel from the perspective of both sides of the Mediterranean, a double heritage, that of the horrors of colonization and that of the pains of decolonization?” Vanity Fair (France)

Leïla Slimani is the author of Adèle and Lullaby (winner of the Prix Goncourt). She is President Emmanuel Macron's personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture. Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1981, she now lives in Paris.