Book Spotlight: Attacking Earth and Sun by Mathieu Belezi

History rarely tells the full story of conquest. In Attacking Earth and Sun, award-winning French author Mathieu Belezi strips away the illusions of glory to reveal the human cost of empire. This searing English-language debut, translated by Lara Vergnaud, immerses readers in the brutal early days of 19th-century French colonization in Algeria. With chiseled, haunting prose, Belezi condenses years of research into a human account of ambition, violence, and survival.

Attacking Earth and Sun will be published by Other Press on October 28, 2025. It is available for pre-order.

“It is my duty to ask questions, especially questions people don’t want to ask,” Belezi told The New York Times in 2023.

This lyrical and unflinching novel does exactly that. Far from the “pioneer dream” sold by Western powers, Attacking Earth and Sun exposes the hell that was colonization through an unforgettable work of historical fiction. (Other Press, 2025)

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The Story

In search of a better life, Séraphine and her family join 500 settlers on a perilous journey to France’s newly conquered Algerian territory. But the promise of prosperity quickly gives way to harsh reality: inadequate shelter, unrelenting weather, illness, and mounting tension with the indigenous population, whose anger and desperation simmer beneath the surface.

As the settlers slowly carve out a fragile community and a church in this foreign land, the French army ravages the Algerian countryside, leaving behind villages in ruin. Through the eyes of a weary soldier constantly reminded by his captain, “You’re no angels!” we witness the staggering cruelty used to crush resistance and the haunting moral decay it breeds.

With prose reminiscent of William Faulkner, Belezi transforms historical record into art. The result is a novel that is poetic and devastatingly real, a story that forces readers to confront uncomfortable truths about power, empire, and humanity.

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About the Author

Mathieu Belezi is the author of more than a dozen novels. His career began with Le petit roi, which won the Marguerite-Audoux Prize in 1999. Attacking Earth and Sun earned both the Prix Livre Inter and the Le Monde Literary Prize. Having traveled widely and taught in Louisiana, Belezi now divides his time between France and Italy.

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About the Translator

Lara Vergnaud is an acclaimed translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from French. She is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and has been nominated for the National Translation Award. She currently lives in France.

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