The Skull
Xavier Le Clerc author Helen Stevenson translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:HopeRoad Publishing Ltd
Publishing:29th Oct '26
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 29th October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
An Extraordinary Reckoning with France’s Colonial Past
The Skull is a reflection on the author's French/Algerian heritage and the legacy of colonialism, with particular reference to relics and ossuary remains.
The Skull is a reflection on the author's French/Algerian heritage and the legacy of colonialism, with particular reference to the remains to be found in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris which are those of the thousands of Algerians slaughtered by French forces in Algeria in the 19th century. As a noted writer, Le Clerc is given access to the vaults of the Musée de l’Homme, and picks out the severed skull of a small girl he imagines is ‘Zohra’. His address to Zohra’s skull includes accounts of his own life and experience as an Algerian immigrant, as well as of the violent history of the country and its conquest by the French. The unflinching tone he uses to describe the barbarity of the invading forces contrasts with the lyricism of his recollection of the beauty of his country and its people.
'It is the discovery of the skull of a 7-year-old girl, lodged in a simple shoebox, that makes him decide to write The Skull, a striking hybrid novel, part historical quest, part autobiography and part fiction' Le Monde
'Xavier Le Clerc writes a memorial to those close to him, to the humiliated without land, without rights, without a burial ground. As is the case for Zohra whose skull he finds in the basement of the Musée de l"Homme'- Le Figaro
'It is an uplifting book but above all the writing is magnificent. For me the most beautiful passages are those of anger and emotion, those where Le Clerc writes of the dignity of his parents and of a people confronting oppression.' -Quotidien Matin
ISBN: 9781913109585
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 137g