A seminal work on the Algerian War, originally pubslihed in 1957, finds Assia Djebar crafting poetry out of tragedy. We move with the narrator from her birthplace in Algiers to the adult life she builds for herself in Paris, with Djebar painting detailed portraits of each location, their complicated relationship, and her place within them along the way. Hitting squarely at 250 pages, Dorothy Blair's beautiful translation maintains Djebar's comfortable style and smooth pacing without sacrificing her intricate structure or shifting tones, rendering this profoundly French conflict accessibly to Anglophone readers while keeping them fascinated to the very last page.  (NAF75, $24.95)