Winner of the Dublin Literary Award
A Best Historical Novel of the Year at The New York Times Book Review

"[An] extraordinary achievement." -- Liesl Schillinger, The Wall Street Journal

Across three generations, three wars, two continents, and the mythic waters of the Mediterranean, one family's history leads to an inevitable question: What price do our descendants pay for the choices that we make?

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. Naïma's father claims to remember nothing; he has made himself French. Her grandfather died before he could tell her his side of the story. 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 long 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 resonant people's history of Algeria and its diaspora. 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.

• We started tracking this book on December 26, 2020.
• This book was $14.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 18 times in the past 1,742 days.
• The current price of this book is $2.99 last checked 5 hours ago.
• The lowest price to date was $2.99 last reached on October 2, 2025.
• This book has been $2.99 2 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $18.99 last reached on July 17, 2022.
• This book has been $18.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• This book is currently at its lowest price since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionLiterary FictionSagas

• Publication Date: March 23, 2021
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 450 Pages
• File Size: 46 KB