This Strange Eventful History
- Author Claire Messud
- Narrator Cassandra Campbell
- Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
- Run Time 16 hours and 36 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Fiction: general and literary.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £15.99
- £14.99
- £13.99
- £12.99
- £11.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
'A tour de force, This Strange Eventful History is one of those rare novels which a reader doesn't merely read but lives through with the characters. Call it the War and Peace of the 20th and 21st century, call it The Long View of a family migrating through many borders, worlds, and eras, call it anything and we fall short. Claire Messud is a magnificent storyteller, and the novel, an all-encompassing history of many human hearts and any human heart, will linger and haunt us as the best and the most heartbreaking memory' Yiyun Li
'Claire Messud captures the heartbreaking paradoxes of being in our world and in ourselves yet feeling separated from both with a precision and acuity like no other writer I know' Paul Harding
'An astonishment - rich and luminous, dense with life, wide with wisdom... Rarely has the private magic of familial love been so fully realized in a public act of literature. Just exquisite' Ayad Akhtar
'An engrossing tale with dizzying sweep, and beautifully written' Lionel Shriver
Critics Review
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Almost unbearably moving, wise and full of the most gorgeous prose
Alex Preston, Observer Novels to Look Out For in 2024 -
Claire Messud has transformed three generations of her family’s story into a tour de force inThis Strange Eventful History…all around them are the upheavals of the 20th century, but though Messud is working on a grand canvas, her skill is in miniature. History is dazzling in its fine-tuned character studies…all beautifully realized. This is a pointillist novel, profound in its portrayal of strains, bonds, and heartbreak
Vogue -
In a major new novel from the author of The Woman Upstairs, a family is dispersed across the globe in the wake of the second world war.
Guardian 'Books to Look Out For in 2024' -
Deeply intertwined with the sociopolitical upheaval of the twentieth century, and inspired by the author’s own family history, this sweeping narrative is as intimate as it is profound. All of Messud’s work is masterful, but this novel is her masterpiece
Oprah Daily -
A tour de force, This Strange Eventful History is one of those rare novels which a reader doesn’t merely read but lives through with the characters. Call it the War and Peace of the 20th and 21st century, call it The Long View of a family migrating through many borders, worlds, and eras, call it anything and we fall short. Claire Messud is a magnificent storyteller, and the novel, an all-encompassing history of many human hearts and any human heart, will linger and haunt us as the best and the most heartbreaking memory
Yiyun Li -
This Strange Eventful History is a deep and beautiful slow burn, encompassing a sweep of history and acutely observed family dynamics. Claire Messud is without doubt one of the most talented novelists of her generation
Joanna Briscoe
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