An extraordinary story

THE work of a Frenchwoman about life as a Jew in wartime France looks set to become a literary success more than 60 years after her death.

Irène Nemirovsky wrote Suite Française in 1942 as she hid from the police with her family in rural Burgundy following the Nazi occupation.

But eventually she was arrested and transported to Auschwitz where she died of typhoid. Leaving behind a suitcase of work for her two young daughters to care for.

The BBC’s Paris correspondent Caroline Wyatt has interviewed the one surviving daughter, Denise, who painstakingly put together the book from her mother’s notes.

Irène Nemirovsky’s work has already been released to critical acclaim in France, and this year an English language version of the book will be published.

There is another article on the Expatica website about the impact the book has had in France, and there is also an unofficial fans website dedicated to Irène Nemirovsky here.