It's the day of the presidential elections and all of France is in a state of shock: the first Arab candidate, who was projected to win, has just been shot. The sprawling Nerrouche family is devastated to discover that one of their own is the prime suspect in the shooting.
It turns out that Nazir, a shadowy but compelling figure, has links to Islamist extremists. In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, the police and prosecution unravel, creating a vacuum in which old alliances shatter and new, more ominous ones emerge. As riots break out, prosecutors and detectives descend upon the Nerrouches, turning them into a convenient political scapegoat for the country's elite. It falls to the family's favourite son Fouad, Nazir's brother and apparent opposite, to clear his family's name. But an enigma hangs over the affair: what if the whole assassination attempt and manhunt was in fact a far-reaching, clandestine plot intended to alter the course of history?
Barb takes care of the web orders here at Boffins, and is your contact for book club enquiries. She spends all her spare time curled up on the couch reading and for the last several years has reviewed books on the Afternoon Program on ABC radio Perth.
It is the eve of the 2012 French Presidential election, and for the first time ever in France, a candidate of Arabic background, Idder Chaouch, is expected to win. On the same weekend, in a city in the south, a wedding is taking place. The groom’s brother, TV star Fouad Nerrouche, happens also to the be the boyfriend of the Chaouch’s daughter, Jasmine. A third brother, Nazir, is not coming to the wedding, but his sinister presence is nevertheless felt, and he is in constant contact with the brothers’ cousin Krim, over whom he seems to have considerable control. The events of Savages all take place over one weekend in May and emotions are running high for everyone. Race, politics, class and a wedding make for a heady mix in this fabulous first volume of a quartet that holds modern day France up to the light.
