This Strange Eventful History (LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024)

June 1940. As Paris falls to the Germans, Gaston Cassar – honourable servant of France, devoted husband and father, currently posted as naval attache in Salonica – bids farewell to his beloved wife, aunt, and children, placing his faith in God that they will be reunited after the war. But escaping the violence of that cataclysm is not the same as emerging unscathed. The family will never again be whole.

As the Cassars move between Salonica and Algeria, the US, Cuba, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and France – their itinerary is shaped as much by a search for an elusive wholeness, as by the imperatives of politics, faith, family, industry, and desire.

This Strange Eventful History was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.