Kateb is a Moroccan immigrant who arrives in France during the fifties and marries a French woman. He becomes embroiled in the events of October 1961 in Paris. Racist attacks and excessive police harassment take their toll on his wife, Dora, who suffers a mental breakdown. The social services intervene and the couple lose custody of their two daughters.
Malo is a young doctor who emigrated to Algeria and married Lorraine, a pied-noir. He is forced to flee the country so dear to his heart when independence is declared. He goes back to France to live with his mother and sister on the family vineyard.
The two characters’ paths cross in the clinic where Malo practices. The two men feel their difference from the stifling conformist society deep under their skin. They share a secret that can only be resolved through L., Kateb’s daughter, a militant student. Malo attempts to track her down in the Paris protest of ’68, so as to pass on the memory of her father’s death.
The maturity and talent of this young author appear clearly in this ambitious first novel, which depicts turbulent history while giving voice to the exiled.