The Year of Thamar's Book is set in the months from the spring of 2015 to the summer of 2016. An elderly recluse living in a quiet village in Burgundy discovers he is not as alone in the world as he has for many years assumed. His grandson, well-educated but ignorant, comes to the village to help the old man make a book of the pile of chaotic manuscript that tells the story of a difficult, painful yet luminous life. As he writes, and listens, the young man learns a good deal, and begins to comprehend not only how French colonial history and the horrors of war in Algeria formed and hurt his grandfather, but also how their lasting consequences are still damaging his country and his own family. At the same time he begins to understand his grandfather's faith.