Suite Francaise [J0163]

2007 - PB Nice clean, ex-library condition. Translated from the French by Sandra Smith. The remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control during World War II. Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940, 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 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 recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "In terms of the best part of the themes of this book, is that although we often assume that conflict and violence are part of human nature, it challenges that to insist that so are art, and peace, and love, and civility. Read it!"; "It isn't often that we get such well written novels portraying a slice of history by someone who has lived through it. The author, who subsequently died in a German concentration camp, presents France from the time of Germany's defeat of France in WWII to its occupation of France. She does so through a variety of characters who represent different genders, geographies, ages, situations and economic levels within French society. It is well written and allows the reader to apply a relevant time in French history to the present in the US."; "I enjoyed this novel very much. It consists of two completed parts that depict life in France during the German occupation in World War II."