About the Author

Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family and emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution. After attending the Sorbonne, she began to write and swiftly achieved success with her first novel, David Golder, which was followed by The Ball, The Flies of Autumn, Dogs and Wolves and The Courilof Affair. She died in 1942.

Reviews

“Beautiful. . . . An enjoyable . . . portrait of manners from the first half of the last century.”
—The Washington Post Book World

"Courageous, uncompromising. . . . An entire world, vividly rendered, emerges from [these] pages.”
—Newsday

“An almost perfect miniature, a tale of divided loves and loyalties set in an insular rural French village.”
—O, Oprah Magazine

“[Némirovsky] coolly explores the heat of passions old and new. . . leav[ing] readers profoundly satisfied with this portrait of la vieille France…so manifestly dear to her.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

If you loved the author's Suite Francaise-and how could you not?-you'll likewise take to this recently discovered treasure by Nemirovsky, who perished in Auschwitz. "Fire in the blood" is the passion that propels all kinds of human triumphs and follies in the lives of otherwise undistinguished French paysans, citizens of the countryside in the early part of the last century, "a region that has something restrained yet savage about it, something affluent and yet distrustful that is reminiscent of another time, long past." Love, intrigue, mystery, death, and murder all figure in this exquisitely wrought tale, as related by the reclusive Silvio, who reconstructs an ultimately shocking family history that links the generations in unexpected ways. So great is Nemirovsky's reading of the human heart that her tale has the power of myth. And so true does it ring to reality that one could call it not so much a love but a life story. If anyone has taken an accurate reading of the pulse of the French, it is surely Nemirovsky. Beautifully translated, this work is enthusiastically recommended for all collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/07.]-Edward Cone, New York Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

"Beautiful. . . . An enjoyable . . . portrait of manners from the first half of the last century."
-The Washington Post Book World

"Courageous, uncompromising. . . . An entire world, vividly rendered, emerges from [these] pages."
-Newsday

"An almost perfect miniature, a tale of divided loves and loyalties set in an insular rural French village."
-O, Oprah Magazine

"[Nemirovsky] coolly explores the heat of passions old and new. . . leav[ing] readers profoundly satisfied with this portrait of la vieille France...so manifestly dear to her."
-San Francisco Chronicle