Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins … world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.When Irène Némirovsky began working on Suite Française, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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The two “novellas” that make up Suite Francaise would be stunning on their own – the amazing details of French life, from provincial farmers to the Paris elite, during the Nazi invasion and occupation. But Nemirovsky’s own story (she was sent to Auschwitz and killed after writing these two novellas) and the inclusion of her letters during this time make this book even more breathtaking – and heartbreaking.
This is one of the most affecting and moving books I’ve ever read. The story opens as the Germans are invading Paris in 1940, and the author describes the fear and panic of a group of individuals in the city, and the way they hurriedly pack their belongings to flee – some of them acting selfishly, others stopping to help those who need it. The scene then moves to the French countryside, which is overrun by refugees from the city, and also taken over by the Germans. The author follows various characters, dwelling on their individual sufferings, their blossoming love affairs, or their greed and selfishness. She has such a way of getting into a character – such empathy, even for the young German soldiers. When I first bought this book I had no idea that the author had written it at the start of the second world war in France, that she was Jewish, and that before she could properly finish the book she would be taken to Auschwitz, where she died. Her absolutely tragic story lends even more poignancy to a beautiful and extraordinary book. Irene Nemirovsky was a brilliant writer and this book is a masterpiece. Her murder robbed the world of a genius.
A freeze-frame of France as the German army invaded during World War II, with an ensemble cast of people showing their true colours as they flee from Paris in panic and terror. . Nemirovsky, of Ukrainian Jewish heritage, has been attacked for accepting racial stereotypes, but nothing can diminish her empathy and observation. She died in Auschwitz a short while after finishing this book, which was rediscovered and published in 2004.
Beautiful prose – a book with a tragic history. We find the Ms was discovered by her daughter years after the writer had died and it was published by her long standing pre-war publishing loyal friend. A wonderful story in itself.
Interesting — couldn’t put it down, really. Full of the ghosts of the past, like Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
Speechless! Never read a book that drew my emotions as Suite Francaise did.
Very sad, of course, but the love between husband and wife is immeasurable.
Gratitude to her daughter for the translation.
This is a work of fiction, set during the early days of World War II in France as the Maginot Line was falling and the French were coming to terms with the reality of a third war with Germany in as many generations. As the Germans marched toward Paris, those in the city decided whether to remain or head elsewhere in France and those in the Occupied Zone found themselves forced to house the conquerors beneath their own roofs. The characters existed in the notebooks of Irene Nemirovsky alone, but the story is as much non-fiction as fiction, for she wrote it as she and her family grappled with the reality of the war that had descended upon them.
Perhaps because it was written during the war, as events happened, and not from a distance with the benefit of hindsight – or even knowing how things would end – there is no fine line between collaboration and resistance, no acts of great heroism or cowardice. These people are simply trying to make it from one day to the next.
Nemirovsky was a Russian Jew; her family’s fortune had been stripped during the Bolshevik Revolution and they’d been forced into exile in France; twenty years later this status left her pesona non grata in her adopted country and she wrote feverishly in an attempt to leave a record of what it meant to be a refugee and what it was to be amidst the confusion and loss of war. When she writes about “the reluctant tears of the very old who have finally accepted that sorrow is futile,” the reader knows these words are the experience of a woman grown old before her time; likewise, when she muses on whether one will see the post-war life, it is clear she is speaking not only of her characters. In fact, Nemirovsky was arrested and deported to Auschwitz only weeks after writing in her notebook “…I do not lack the courage to complete the task / But the goal is far and time is short.” What she was able to complete is still a remarkable book.
(This review was originally published at: http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2012/10/suite-francaise.html)