Found in the Stacks by Peggy Firman: Suite Francaise

Find this lovely book in our stacks: call number PQ2627.E4 S8513 2006. The New York Times Book Review indicates that, “Nemirovsky wrote what may be the first work of fiction about what we now call World War II.” Irene Nemirovsky was a successful writer living and working in France during the onset of the war. She was in a unique position to view and document the experience of the individuals affected by the war, and started writing the parts to this novel as she herself was experiencing the events. The work contains two parts. The first part, A Storm in June, chronicles individuals and families fleeing Paris in advance of Nazi occupation. The imperative of survival strips individuals of their normal surroundings and allows us to see their essential natures. Nemirovsky’s clarity of prose makes the reader a participant in the chaotic exodus from the city. In the second part, Dolce, we experience the occupation of a small town from both points of view: the conqueror and the subdued. The appendi ces contain transcripts of notes written by the author on plans for the following parts. But we readers never see the conclusion, because the author was arrested in 1942 and sent to a concentration camp, where she died within the month. The survival of the manuscript is explained in additional notes and the publication of the work in 2006 a true gift to readers everywhere.