I do not often write about literature but I have really enjoyed this book, Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky and was moved by it. One of my daughters recommended it after my other daughter suggested it to her. As the New York Times review, As France Burned, wrote the book, “contains two narratives, one fictional and the other a fragmentary, factual account of how the fiction came into being. "Suite Française" itself consists of two novellas portraying life in France from June 4, 1940, as German forces prepare to invade Paris, through July 1, 1941, when some of Hitler's occupying troops leave France to join the assault on the Soviet Union. At the end of the volume, a series of appendices and a biographical sketch provide, among other things, information about the author of the novellas.”
The writer focuses on several families at all social levels as they leave Paris. You go back and forth between each family and individuals as they experience the trauma of the exodus. It is a technique used more often now. Then she covers an occupied rural village as the German troops move in and the strained and strange relations with their occupiers. The story behind book is also moving. The author was sent to Auschwitz where she and her husband both died. The book was written quickly at the same time as the events. Her oldest daughter did not open the manuscript for years, thinking it was diary that would only bring back bad memories. Not until the late 1990's did she examine what her mother had written and found two complete hand written novellas. The book appeared in French in 2004 and was a best seller. Now it is available in English. As the NYT reviewer wrote, “She wrote what may be the first work of fiction about what we now call World War II. She also wrote, for all to read at last, some of the greatest, most humane and incisive fiction that conflict has produced.” I certainly agree.
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