The age of reinvention - Karine Tuil

An international bestseller and finalist for the Prix Goncourt; a suspenseful tale of a tangled love triangle in the long shadow of the war on terror.

Manhattan attorney Sam Tahar appears to have it all: fame, fortune, an enviable marriage to a prominent socialite, and two children. But his charmed life is built on a lie - he isn't the person he pretends to be.

As the son of a Tunisian immigrant growing up in a grimy Paris tower block, Samir Tahar seemed destined to stay on the margins - until he decided to 'cut through the bars of his social jail cell, even if he had to do it with his teeth'. At law school, he became friends with Jewish student Samuel Baron. The two were inseparable until the irresistible Nina, torn between the men, chose Samuel. Samir fled to America, where he assumed Samuel's identity while his former friend remained trapped in a French suburb, a failed writer seething at Samir's triumphs.

Years later, the three meet again and Samir's carefully constructed existence is blown apart, with disastrous consequences. The Age of Reinvention is a smart, captivating story about the temptations and terrible costs of remaking oneself.