Suite Francaise

Suite Francaise was written by Irène Némirovsky as the horror of World War 2 unfolded around her. It was to be a novel in five parts but Némirovsky died in a concentration camp having completed only the first two parts, Storm in June and Dolce. Her daughter kept her mother's notebook as a keepsake, not realizing that this magnificent work was contained in it. Many years elapsed before it was finally published.
Part 1 details the evacuation of Paris as the German troops advanced on the city. Rich and poor evacuees are thrown together and Némirovsky recreates the panic and chaos that ensues on their flight south.
The second volume takes place in a small occupied village and tells the stories of a few of the inhabitants, again from a range of social strata.
The author writes with a great deal of sympathy about aristocrats, office workers, landowners, farmers, the French and the Germans. The characters are portrayed with deep compassion and all ring true. It is surprising that she is able to maintain an objective view given that she was living through the horrific events that she writes about. One of the appendices to the novel contains letters written by Némirovsky and others at the time she was working on the novel, before she was arrested. One can sense her fear, desperation and concern for her two young daughters. It is remarkable that she could apply positive characteristics to those who would shortly incarcerate her and be responsible for the deaths of her husband and herself.
The considerable poignancy of the story is amplified by the real life tragedy that underlies it. Suite Francaise is far and away the best wartime novel I have read. I only wish she had lived to complete her opus.