my holiday reading Knew nothing about Algeria. Knew nothing about Algeria and France. Knew Camus’ name but nothing about him. Now I know a little about them. This is an intriguing and skilful weaving of past and present, Algeria and France, history and fiction, Charlot and Ryad. It is also short and sharp, so you get quite immediately the pain-hope, youth-age, brokenness-regeneration mood of the book. I enjoyed it and was happy that it is only 140 pages long, not because I couldn’t wait for the story to end but because it is succinct yet atmospheric. Another novel French story I enjoyed. A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi translated by Chris Andrews (Serpent’s Tail, 2020)