People Like Them

Samira Sedira is a novelist, playwright and actress who was born in Algeria and moved to France with her family as a young girl. In 2008, after two decades of acting for film and the stage, she became a cleaning woman, an experience that filtered into the events of this book. People Like Them is her first novel to be translated into English.Lara Vergnaud is an award-winning translator who specializes in North African literature.

'Disturbing and powerful . I loved it' Leïla Slimani, author of Lullaby'Gripping' Independent'Taut' Observer'Tense... cunningly keeps our sympathies shifting' TelegraphTHERE ARE NO MONSTERS. ONLY HUMANS.Anna and Constant Guillot and their two daughters live in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, leading simple lives mostly unaffected by the outside world - that is until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois arrive with their three children.The new family's impressive chalet and expensive cars are in stark contrast with the modesty of those of their neighbours, yet despite their initial differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy friendship. But when both families come under financial strain, the underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship reach breaking point, culminating in act of abhorrent violence.With piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People Like Them asks the questions: How could a seemingly ordinary person commit the most extraordinary crime? And how could their loved ones ever come to terms with what they'd done?Lullaby meets Little Fires Everywhere, this intense, suspenseful prize-winning novel explores the darker side of human nature - and the terrible things people are capable of.'Icy and chilling... In sharply drawn sentences, Sedira summons the beauty of a small French village, and the shocking acts of the people inside it' - Flynn Berry, author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, Northern Spy*Winner of the Prix Eugène Dabit*

Lullaby meets Little Fires Everywhere in this subtly brutal, suspenseful prize-winning novel inspired by a true story. It asks the question: how can a seemingly normal person commit the most atrocious of crimes? And how well can you ever know someone?

An exciting English-language debut from a brilliant and well-connected French-Algerian former actress.