Irene Nemirovsky 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 an early novel, "David Golder, " which was followed by "The Ball, Snow in Autumn, Dogs and Wolves, "and "The Courilof Affair, "among others. She died in Auschwitz in 1942.
"Courageous, uncompromising . . . An entire world, vividly
rendered, emerges from [these] pages . . . Nemirovsky sets the
tragedies of the plot in motion so unobtrusively, yet so surely,
that when they come together the book has the inevitability-and yet
the shock-that characterizes the books that mark us . . . If Thomas
Hardy were alive to read "Fire in the Blood, " I think he'd
recognize Nemirovsky as kin."
-Charles Taylor, "Newsday
"
"With startling economy, Nemirovsky telegraphs the prejudices,
passions and taboos that govern life in this isolated community . .
. Subdued on its surface, but with a tamped-down sensuality that
gives it a near-vicious narrative drive, the book has a powerful
sting in its tail. Translator Sandra Smith deftly renders its
noirish bite into English, giving us a taste of what Nemirovsky the
writer was like before history handed her the subject matter that
killed her."
-Michael Upchurch, "Seattle Times
""Posthumous second acts are tough. But "Fire in the Blood "is an
almost perfect miniature, a tale of divided loves and loyalties set
in an insular rural French village."
-"O: Oprah Magazine"
"Exquisitely wrought . . . If you loved the author's "Suite
Francaise"-and how could you not?-you'll likewise take to this
recently discovered treasure . . . 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."
-Edward Cone, "Library Journal "(starred)
"Stripped of the backdrop of war, the natural surroundings of "Fire
In The Blood" add a depth and resonance to each of the story's
characters, whether young or old, male or female. Subtle in its
intention, this novella takes humanity in all its guises and
captures the deep-seated desire for belonging and understanding." -
Anna Millar, "Scotland on Sunday "
""Fire in the Blood," on which it seems she was still working when
she was t
"Stripped of the backdrop of war, the natural surroundings of "Fire
In The Blood" add a depth and resonance to each of the story's
characters, whether young or old, male or female. Subtle in its
intention, this novella takes humanity in all its guises and
captures the deep-seated desire for belonging and understanding." -
Anna Millar, "Scotland on Sunday "
""Fire in the Blood," on which it seems she was still working when
she was taken away to her death, confirms Nemirovsky's brilliance
as a storyteller with a deep understanding of the hidden flaws and
cruelties not just in French society but in the human heart." -
Anne Chisholm, "The Telegraph" (UK)
"Passion and dispassion stare at each other with mutual lack of
understanding. In a book fuelled with images of fire and embers,
Nemirovsky brilliantly depicts a closed-in, inward-looking
community, then gives what happens in it universal resonance by
exhibiting not only what people do to each other but what the
passing of time does to us all." -Peter Kemp, "Sunday Times"
(UK)
"Like the second half of Suite Francaise, "Fire in the Blood" is
set in a small, isolated village in rural France and displays, once
again, Nemirovsky's unnerving ability to map out her characters'
internal faults with a humanity reminiscent of Chekhov....
Nemirovsky is superb at teasing out people's personal worlds,
disillusionment, moral hypocrisy and the ways in which old age
invariably shows happiness to be little more than a youthful
dream." --"Metro" (UK) "From the Hardcover edition."
When she was writing Suite Francaise in 1940, Nemirovsky, who died in Auschwitz in 1942 before turning 40, was also reworking this novel, newly discovered among her papers. Though composed on a smaller canvas, it is another keenly observed study of human nature, and in this case of Burgundy paysans. In a leisurely narrative, middle-aged narrator Silvio recounts three interlocking stories of love and betrayal over two decades. These secret affairs, he says, can be explained only by "fire in the blood," the intense passion that can overtake men and women when they are young, highly sexed and vulnerable. Silvio's laconic descriptions of unappeasable desire are seasoned by bitter assessment of the wisdom earned after things cool. Linked through blood and common local history, the characters in this la ronde of betrayal exist in a seemingly idyllic community that is always alert for deviations from the social code. Nemirovsky's restraint in unfolding her story contributes to the emotional crescendo at the story's denouement. In its penetrating distillation of manners and mores, this spare and elegant book makes a worthy follow-up to Suite. (Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
"Courageous, uncompromising . . . An entire world, vividly
rendered, emerges from [these] pages . . . Nemirovsky sets the
tragedies of the plot in motion so unobtrusively, yet so surely,
that when they come together the book has the inevitability-and yet
the shock-that characterizes the books that mark us . . . If Thomas
Hardy were alive to read "Fire in the Blood, " I think he'd
recognize Nemirovsky as kin."
-Charles Taylor, "Newsday
"
"With startling economy, Nemirovsky telegraphs the prejudices,
passions and taboos that govern life in this isolated community . .
. Subdued on its surface, but with a tamped-down sensuality that
gives it a near-vicious narrative drive, the book has a powerful
sting in its tail. Translator Sandra Smith deftly renders its
noirish bite into English, giving us a taste of what Nemirovsky the
writer was like before history handed her the subject matter that
killed her."
-Michael Upchurch, "Seattle Times
""Posthumous second acts are tough. But "Fire in the Blood "is an
almost perfect miniature, a tale of divided loves and loyalties set
in an insular rural French village."
-"O: Oprah Magazine"
"Exquisitely wrought . . . If you loved the author's "Suite
Francaise"-and how could you not?-you'll likewise take to this
recently discovered treasure . . . 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."
-Edward Cone, "Library Journal "(starred)
"Stripped of the backdrop of war, the natural surroundings of "Fire
In The Blood" add a depth and resonance to each of the story's
characters, whether young or old, male or female. Subtle in its
intention, this novella takes humanity in all its guises and
captures the deep-seated desire for belonging and understanding." -
Anna Millar, "Scotland on Sunday "
""Fire in the Blood," on which it seems she was still working when
she was t
"Stripped of the backdrop of war, the natural surroundings of "Fire
In The Blood" add a depth and resonance to each of the story's
characters, whether young or old, male or female. Subtle in its
intention, this novella takes humanity in all its guises and
captures the deep-seated desire for belonging and understanding." -
Anna Millar, "Scotland on Sunday "
""Fire in the Blood," on which it seems she was still working when
she was taken away to her death, confirms Nemirovsky's brilliance
as a storyteller with a deep understanding of the hidden flaws and
cruelties not just in French society but in the human heart." -
Anne Chisholm, "The Telegraph" (UK)
"Passion and dispassion stare at each other with mutual lack of
understanding. In a book fuelled with images of fire and embers,
Nemirovsky brilliantly depicts a closed-in, inward-looking
community, then gives what happens in it universal resonance by
exhibiting not only what people do to each other but what the
passing of time does to us all." -Peter Kemp, "Sunday Times"
(UK)
"Like the second half of Suite Francaise, "Fire in the Blood" is
set in a small, isolated village in rural France and displays, once
again, Nemirovsky's unnerving ability to map out her characters'
internal faults with a humanity reminiscent of Chekhov....
Nemirovsky is superb at teasing out people's personal worlds,
disillusionment, moral hypocrisy and the ways in which old age
invariably shows happiness to be little more than a youthful
dream." --"Metro" (UK)
"From the Hardcover edition."
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