02 Jun Suite Française
Suite Française, WWII Book by French author Irène Némirovsky
(2006) This remarkable book was written by the French author, Irène Némirovsky, in 1942. She was arrested by the Nazis in 1942 in France as a Jew and sent to a concentration camp. Soon afterward, she died at Auschwitz. The notebook which contained her writings was in the hands of her daughters but not opened until 1998. The book was published in French in 2004, in English in 2006.
I have to be honest. I first bought the book a couple of years ago for my neighborhood book club. I read very little of it. It didn’t pertain to my Eighth Air Force/Swedish internee/OSS research so I put it down.
Then recently for one of my car trips to Columbia, SC to visit my Dad, I checked out the audio book from the library. The author had planned to write a series of five books but only had time to write two, both included in Suite Française. The first is titled Storm in June and is about several different families or couples fleeing Paris as the Germans approach. The second, named Dolce, is the story of how a rural town copes with the German occupation.
At first I had a hard time keeping the characters straight. But because I was driving and just had to keep listening, after a while it really didn’t matter. I loved that this was a first-hand accounting of what life was like in Paris and beyond. The characters are in different social classes so we learn about their different reactions to what is happening to them and to their country.
The readers in the audio book did a fabulous job. Delicious French phrases. I didn’t want to stop the car.
Suite Francaise at amazon.com
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