Just finished this book that we read in my work book club.
Wow. It is like being in Paris in June of 1940 as the Germans are invading France, living the uncertainty, fear, and chaos that ensues through the story of 4 different groups of people.
An amazing historical read, made more amazing by the conditions in which it was written, and how it came to us: The author lived through this and wrote the book in occupied France up until she was sent to Auschwitz in July of 1942 where she was killed. The manuscript remained in the possession of her daughters who thought it was a journal too disturbing to read, until in 1998 when they discovered it was a novel and they published it.

Title: Suite française
Author: Irène Némirovsky
Publication date: 2004
Pages: 416
Format: ebook
Price: free (pirated)
Started:  24/04/2026
Finished: 24/05/2026

My rough notes (careful contains spoilers):
The book is made of two parts (there were to be 4 but the Final Solution) prevented her from finishing the last two parts (there were notes on where she though she would go with it, but as we see with the first two parts, reality is what was helping to provide the plot line).

Book one, Storm in June, follows 4 different groups of people from June 3rd 1940 through about March of 1941:

• The Pericand Family
  • An upper middle class family with 4 children and a cat Albert (Chapter 20 is written from his perspective).
• Charles Langelet
  • A wealthy singe rich dude
• Gabriel Corte and Florence his lover
  • A popular and connected author
• The Michuads
  • middle class couple who work for a banker (Corbin) and have a son fighting the germans

By including such a diverse group of characters we are able to see how it affected all sorts of different social economical groups, the level of denial right up until finally deciding they really needed to get out of Paris and then the total chaos that ensures. As reading I just kept reflecting that this was written not years later by at the time. Incredible.

Book two, Dolce, is set in a small farming town, Bussy, focusing mostly on two different families from Spring 1941 to the end of June and the occupation by the German regiment stationed in the area (and officer living in the houses of each family). Some of the characters had been introduced in the previous part and for me the change was welcomed because first book had run its course and the abrupt change in the second book hooked my attention again and I could not put it down. There is the element of suspense, love, and intrigue and most interesting for me is the historical context of how things were in occupied France in 1941.

A really good read.

Thanks for reading and feel free to give feedback or comments via email (andrew@jupiterstation.net).