In 1936, a young dreamer named Edmond Charlot opened a modest bookshop in Algiers. Fast-forward to 2017 and young Ryad arrives at Charlot's beloved bookshop. Once the heart of Algerian cultural life, where Camus launched his first book and the Free French printed propaganda during the war, it has been closed for decades, living on as a government lending library. Now it is to be shuttered forever. But as Ryad empties it of its books, he begins to understand that a bookshop can be much more than just a shop that sells books. A Bookshop in Algiers charts the changing fortunes of Charlot's bookshop through the political drama of Algeria's turbulent twentieth century of war, revolution and independence. It is a moving celebration of books, bookshops, and of those who dare to dream.

Autorentext

Kaouther Adimi is a young Algerian novelist living in France. A Bookshop in Algiers is her third novel and was published in France in 2017, where it got the trifecta of major French award nominations (the Goncourt, Renaudot & Médicis prizes) and sold over 50,000 copies.

Klappentext

An interweaving of the stories of famous Algerian bookstore founder Edmond Charlot, who played a significant role in the rise of Albert Camus and Gertrude Stein, and the 2017 painter who decorates the shop, his mind exposed to books. A celebration of the position of literature in historical and political tumult.

Zusammenfassung
A moving novel inspired by the true story of an extraordinary bookshop and the man who founded it.