Claire Messud

a novel

The woman upstairs

The emperor's children

A Novel

This Strange Eventful History

Tres amigos treintañeros se abren camino --o no-- en la ciudad de Nueva York. Los hijos del emperador sigue la pista de los encuentros y desencuentros de estos tres personajes, de los triunfos y los combates postergados, de la búsqueda o invención del sentido y la propia autenticidad. Pero no parecen ser ellos los únicos atrapados entre el deseo, e incluso la tenacidad, por una parte, y las contingencias, dueña del mundo, por otra. En esta novela nadie está a salvo del desamor, de la idea que tienen del fracaso, del resentimiento crónico hacia el mundo. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION The Emperor's Children is a richly drawn, brilliantly observed novel of fate and fortune--about the intersections in the lives of three friends, now on the cusp of their thirties, making their way--and not-- in New York City. In this tour de force, the celebrated author Claire Messud brings to life a city, a generation, and the way we live in this moment."A masterly comedy of manners . . .. Splendid." --The New York Times Book Review

Los hijos del emperador

In June, 2006, Picador launch Picador Shots, a new series of pocket-sized books priced at £1. The Shots aim to promote the short story as well as the work of some Picador's greatest authors. They will be contemporarily packaged but ultimately disposable books that are the ideal literary alternative to a magazine. In ‘The Professor’s History’ a French historian travels to Algeria to uncover the terrible truth about his country’s actions in the region. His search leads him to a story which has lain untold but unforgotten for many years. Claire Messud’s work has been hailed for its sweeping appeal and its sheer beauty. She explores themes of connection and isolation with unexcelled power and grace.

The Professor's History

June 1940. As Paris falls to the Germans, Gaston Cassar - honorable 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. A work of breathtaking historical sweep and vivid psychological intimacy, THIS STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY charts the Cassars unfolding story as its members move between Salonica and Algeria, the US, Cuba, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and France - their itineracy shaped as much by a search for an elusive wholeness, as by the imperatives of politics, faith, family, industry, and desire.

From the acclaimed author of The Emperor’s Children and The Burning Girl, The Hunters is “a work of near-miraculous perfection” (Miranda Seymour, New York Times). In two jewel-like novellas, Claire Messud explores isolation and the nature of love. “A Simple Tale” is the moving story of Maria Poniatowski, an aging Ukrainian woman who, after liberation from servitude to the Germans, struggles with a new life in Canada. What of the past is she able to preserve, without burdening her present? “The Hunters,” the second novella, tells the story of an American academic in London who grows obsessed with the neighbors downstairs. Loneliness breeds an active imagination, one that may be destructive.

The Hunters

A PEN/Faulkner Award finalist about two sisters’ divergent paths, from the author of The Burning Girl and The Emperor’s Children. In this highly acclaimed novel, life isn’t all Emmy and Virginia Simpson anticipated. When Emmy’s marriage ends, she flees her home in Sydney to “find herself” on the island of Bali—only to become embroiled with a crew of international misfits and smugglers. Her prim and pious sister Virginia, meanwhile, has never wandered far outside of London. Struggling to find meaning, Virginia follows her aging mother’s advice to vacation on the Isle of Skye. On these two islands halfway around the world, the middle-aged sisters confront the costs of self-knowledge and their destinies with unexpected consequences.

Claire Messud

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