Suite Francais – Irene Nemirovsky

A strange book this (but brilliant) as it is only half complete. It was written by Irene Nemirovsky during the second world war in France. BBasically she was a really well respected author before the war having emmigrated from Russia during the october revolution when she was a child. The book is supposed to be in four parts but only the first two are here as she was taken prisoner as a Russian Jew and carted off to Auschwitz where she died in 1942. The book is excellent for many reasons though (despite onlyt being two parts long and essentially unfinished) First the translation is top notch and the eloquence of the author is apparent throughout, but it is also a book written about the war, during the war, and with no knowledge of the outcome of the war, which makes it almost unique in terms of novels with maybe the exception of Anne Franks Diaries, which wasn’t a novel so doesn’t count :P.

Interestingly the book isn’t about a russian jews struggle, but about the french society in genereal and how they dsintegrated during the invasion by germany and how the people lived with the occupiers, it ends with Russia entering the war and is quite beautiful. The copy I had (and i thiink all of them have) contains a collection of letters between Irene, her publisher and eventually her husband when she goes missing and reflects the extra ordinaryt desperation that must have gripped most of france at the time.

Genuinely left me with a tear in my eye.

9/10