Suite Francaise (Irene Nemirovsky, 1941)

This book is really unusual, though in large part for reasons the author (Irene Nemirovsky) would not have anticipated. Nemirovsky was a Russian of Jewish descent who had lived in France for quite a few years with her husband (Michael Epstein) and their two children. All were Catholic, the children were French citizens.

Nemirovsky lived in occupied France following the Nazi roll-over of the French army in June 1940. During the occupation, she conceived the idea of a five-part story describing the flight from Paris, life in an occupied town, etc. She finished two parts (or at least had handwritten manuscripts).

These were dangerous times for folks like her, and eventually she was sent to Auschwitz, where she died shortly thereafter.
One of her daughters found the manuscripts in a suitcase a few years ago, and the book was published.

I didn't think the book itself was all that great, though who knows how it may have worked if it had been completed. The part about the occupied town seemed almost idyllic. I did find interesting her description of the way that French soldiers - in the aftermath of WWI - weren't all that anxious to knock themselves out just a few years later in WWII.

The most compelling parts - and they are compelling indeed - are the two appendices. Appendix I - a series of notes - discusses her goals and insecurities for the novel. Appendix II consists of correspondence generated in trying to get her out of Nazi custody. Her family was pretty well connected and they tried everything. Including looking for snippets of anti-Bolshevik or anti-Jewish text in her books, and trotting out a letter of recommendation from billeted Nazi soldiers.

Her husband eventually volunteered to take her place in the camps, which was impossible. Anyway, he was caught up and also died in the camps within months.

Appendix I made you feel like you knew the author, her fears, uncertainties, plans. Appendix II is heartbreaking.