A “propulsive” historical novel about the battles—won, lost, and ongoing—that define us, from a winner of the Goncourt Prize (Library Journal, starred review).Assem, a French intelligence officer, is tasked with tracking down a former member of the US Special Forces suspected of drug trafficking during the war in Afghanistan. En route to Beirut, he shares a night with Mariam, an Iraqi archaeologist, who is in a race against time to save ancient artifacts across the Middle Eas