The Art of Losing: A Novel

Alice Zeniter

Aug 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Jeed Saddy

About this audiobook

Naïma knows Algeria only by the artifacts she encounters in her grandparents' tiny apartment in Normandy: the language her grandmother speaks but Naïma can't understand, the food her grandmother cooks, and the precious things her grandmother carried when they fled. But now Naïma will travel to Algeria to see for herself what was left behind-including their secrets. The Algerian War for Independence sent Naïma's grandfather on a journey of his own, from wealthy olive grove owner and respected veteran of the First World War, to refugee spurned as a harki by his fellow Algerians in the transit camps of southern France, to immigrant barely scratching out a living in the north. The battle against colonial rule broke apart communities, opened deep rifts within families, and saw the whims of those in even temporary power instantly overturn the lives of ordinary people. Where does Naïma's family fit into this history? How do they fit into France's future? Alice Zeniter's The Art of Losing is a powerful, moving family novel that spans three generations across seventy years and two shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a story of how we carry on in the face of loss: loss of country, identity, language, connection. Most of all, it is an immersive, riveting excavation of the inescapable legacies of colonialism, immigration, family, and war.

About the author

Alice Zeniter is a French novelist, translator, screenwriter, and director. Zeniter has received many awards in France for her work, including the Prix litteraire de la Porte Doree and the Prix Renaudot des Lyceens. She won the Prix Goncourt des Lyceens and the Dublin Literary Award for The Art of Losing.

Jeed Saddy is a mother of four who studied voice-over and improv in San Francisco and now resides in the Los Angeles area.

Frank Wynne has translated the work of numerous French and Hispanic authors. His work has earned him many prizes, including the Scott Moncrieff Prize, the Premio Valle Inclán, and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award with Houellebecq for The Elementary Particles.