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The sequel to Sylvie Germain's highly acclaimed The Book of Nights (Godine, 1993; a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Night of Amber continues the grotesque, fantastic, and riveting story of the Peniel family. It ranges from the terror and atrocity of the Algerian War to the frenzied Paris of May '68. Like The Book of Nights, which it brings to a dramatic conclusion, this is "an unusual and passionate" novel (Times Literary Supplement) that skillfully blends myth, history, memorable characters, and pure emotional intensity. The hero of the novel is Charles-Victor Peniel, called "Night-of-Amber," whose lonely and angry childhood eventually lands him in Paris at the time of the May '68 riots. There, Charles-Victor becomes involved with a band of dangerous companions, and in a whirlwind situation that spins uncontrollably into sadism and murder.