Scrap - Kathy Biggs

''A truly clever and heart racing depiction of the human condition. Assimilation asks what we all face at some junction in our lives - where do I belong? Where do I fit in?'' - CONNOR ALLEN Charlotte, young and fiercely independent, leaves the constraints of her Parisian childhood for Wales, running away from a traumatic event. Hoping to find peace and somewhere to rebuild her life, she is confronted with a growing sense of fragmentation and soon unravels. Her mother, Marianne, well-travelled and with a colourful past, is keeping a terrible secret. She tries her best to conform her family to French middle class expectations when all at home is far from ordinary. Wilson, a Nigerian man with a ticket to a new life studying at a New York university, falls victim to the French immigration system and finds himself stranded in Paris awaiting a visa that never comes. A vivid and powerful novel exploring how travel, memory and family stories shape who we are. Set against the backdrop of significant political and humanitarian events, questioning how we see migration today. Assimilation is an important book for our time. ''Spanning continents and slipping between time, this sophisticated and affecting novel shows how the secrets of the past never quite disappear, casting long, long shadows over the present day.'' - JON GOWER