The latest addition to my website is Mathieu Belezi‘s Attaquer la terre et le soleil [Attacking the Earth and the Sun]. This tells the story of a group of French people who are persuaded to go to Algeria and help colonise it, soon after the French had seized the country. Both from the point of view of the colonists and the native population, this is a horrendous experience. The soldiers rape, pillage, plunder and murder in the local villages (Belezi spares us no details) while the colonists, contrary to what they were promised have no housing, suffer from a terrible climate – torrential rain in the winter, blazing sun in the summer, regular outbreaks of cholera and attacks from both the local population and mountain lions. Many die. Few are happy. Belezi does not mince his words. Colonialism in Algeria was a horrendous experience for both colonisers and colonised.