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  • book 1 is an excellent, lyrical story of the exodus from Paris ahead of the Nazi army's invasion, following a number of different people and family groups as they leave; book 2 is an account of village life which conveys the mixed attitudes--hatred, camaraderie, love, lust, admiration, etc.-- of Fre ... Continue

    book 1 is an excellent, lyrical story of the exodus from Paris ahead of the Nazi army's invasion, following a number of different people and family groups as they leave; book 2 is an account of village life which conveys the mixed attitudes--hatred, camaraderie, love, lust, admiration, etc.-- of French townspeople and farmers toward their German occupiers, and vice versa, with some overlap of characters from book 1. Made all the more poignant because of the author's subsequent arrest and murder in Auschwitz.

    Be sure to read the "Preface to the French Edition," which in my copy is at the end of the book. Then read the Appendix II--Nemirovsky's husband's heart-wrenching and increasingly-frantic correspondence chronicling his frustrated efforts to find and help his wife after her arrest and deportation.

    

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• ― Lynn (lparmoc) said on Jan 16, 2009 about the Hardcover edition| 1 feedback| 1 feedback

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  • The writing may drive you a bit crazy, but the story of how this book came to be is compelling, which makes it a worthwhile read.

    

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• ― Bjj11 said on Oct 22, 2008 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

Irène Némirovsky was arrested soon after completing the second part of Suite Française. Ten days later, on August 17, 1942, she died of typhus in Auschwitz- Birkenau. Her husband, Michel, perished in a gas chamber on November 6. Their daughters, Denise and Elizabeth, survived, hidden in safe houses and convents, carrying a suitcase packed with clothes, photographs, and their mother's manuscript written in tiny letters to save paper. For years, both girls thought it was a journal and couldn't bear to read it. Then, in the late 1980s, Denise began transcribing it with the help of a magnifying glass.

Part One, "A Storm in June," is set in the chaos and mayhem of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Part Two, "Dolce," opens in the provincial town of Bussy during the first influx of German soldiers. Each part features a rich cast of characters— people who never should have met, but come to form ambiguous relationships as they are forced to endure circumstances beyond their control.

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• Historical FictionFictionfrancenaziparisvichyvillageworld war IImulti-partevacuation
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