People Like Them: A Novel

Samira Sedira

yul 2021 · Penguin Random House Audio · Lu par Susan Nezami

À propos de ce livre audio

A prizewinning, "riveting" (The New York Times Book Review) psychological suspense novel inspired by a true story about a couple in an insular French village whose lives are upended when a family of outsiders moves in.

“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, Edgar Award-winning and bestselling author of Under the Harrow and Northern Spy

“Disturbing and powerful . . . I loved it.” —Leila Slimani, bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny

Anna and Constant Guillot live with their two daughters in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac, largely deaf to the upheavals of the outside world. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, and most of its residents look alike—until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois arrive with their three children.

Wealthy and flashy, the family of five are outsiders in the small town, their impressive chalet and three expensive cars a stark contrast to the modesty of those of their neighbors. Despite their differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy, ambiguous friendship. But when both families begin experiencing financial troubles, the underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship come to a breaking point, and the unthinkable happens.

With piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People Like Them asks: How could a seemingly "normal" person commit an atrocious crime? How could that person's loved ones ever come to terms with it afterward? And how well can you really know your own spouse?

À propos de l'auteur

Samira Sedira is a novelist, playwright, and actress who was born in Algeria and moved to France with her family when she was very young. In 2008, after two decades of acting for film and the stage, she became a cleaning woman, an experience that inspired her autobiographical novel L'odeur des planches (The Smell of the Stage). People Like Them is her fourth novel and the first to be translated into English. Lara Vergnaud (translator) is an award-winning translator who specializes in North African literature.