Suite Francaise
Published on 1. February 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-09-948878-1 (ISBN)
Description
**AS FEATURED IN HRH THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL'S BOOK CLUB, THE READING ROOM**
'A masterpiece' The Sunday Times
In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. Nemirovsky's death in Auschwitz in 1942 prevented her from seeing the day, sixty-five years later, that the existing two sections of her planned novel sequence, Suite Francaise, would be rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece.
Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Francaise falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Francaise is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places.
'A masterpiece' The Sunday Times
In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. Nemirovsky's death in Auschwitz in 1942 prevented her from seeing the day, sixty-five years later, that the existing two sections of her planned novel sequence, Suite Francaise, would be rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece.
Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Francaise falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Francaise is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places.
Reviews / Votes
A masterpiece * Sunday Times * Quite outstanding, full of beauty, pain and truth -- Anne Chisholm * Sunday Telegraph * An irresistible work. Suite Francaise clutches the heart -- Carmen Callil * The Times * The work of a genuine artist -- Julian Barnes * Guardian * Magnificent * The Times * Suite Francaise is one of those rare books that demands to be read -- Helen Dunmore * Guardian * Suite Francaise is the most powerful account of that time and place many of us have ever read...this extraordinary woman's work is receiving the celebration it deserves. I defy anyone to read it without tears of admiration and pity for its author -- Max Hastings * Daily Mail * A book of exceptional literary quality, it has the kind of intimacy found in the diary of Anne Frank * Times Literary Supplement * What is to me most remarkable is the degree to which Nemirovsky, writing so close to the event, has nevertheless distilled it to extract the significance of each moment and episode. it is literature, not journalism... Her novel is in the classic French tradition, intelligent and sensuous * Scotsman * A beautifully observed, devastating critique of French society on the brink of war -- Catherine Taylor * i *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
280 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-948878-1 (9780099488781)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Irene Nemirovsky
Suite Francaise
E-Book
09/2012
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€8.99
Available for download
Previous edition
Book
08/2011
Vintage
€29.89
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Irene Nemirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903, the daughter of a successful Jewish banker. In 1918 her family fled the Russian Revolution for France where she became a bestselling novelist, author of David Golder, Le Bal and other works published in her lifetime or soon after, as well as the posthumous Suite Francaise and Fire in the Blood. In July 1942 she was arrested by the French police and interned in Pithiviers concentration camp, and from there immediately deported to Auschwitz where she died in August 1942.