The Fires of Autumn

Description

The prequel to the internationally bestselling novel Suite Fran aise- a coruscating, powerful story about one man's rise and fall and the brutal impact of war The prequel to the bestselling Suite Fran aise Paris 1918, Bernard Jacquelain returns from the trenches a changed man. The city is a whirl of decadence and corruption and he embarks on a life of parties and shady business dealings, as well as an illicit affair. But as another war threatens, everything around him starts to crumble, and the future for him and for France suddenly looks dangerously uncertain.

Ir ne Nemirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903, the daughter of a successful Jewish banker. In 1918 her family fled the Russian Revolution for France where she became a bestselling novelist, author of David Golder, All Our Worldly Goods, The Dogs and the Wolves and other works published in her lifetime or soon after, such as the posthumously published Suite Fran aise and Fire in the Blood. She was prevented from publishing when the Germans occupied France and moved with her husband and two small daughters from Paris to the safety of the small village of Issy-l'Evaque (in German occupied territory). It was here that Ir ne began writing Suite Fran aise. She died in Auschwitz in 1942.

Admirers of Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise...won't want to miss this novel -- Peter Kemp * Sunday Times * Beautiful...Powerful...Poignant * Independent * Revelatory... gripping and illuminating * Sunday Times * One puts it down with unqualified admiration... This fine novel will further enhance Irene Nemirovsky's name -- John Sutherland * The Times * This astute novel is witness to an undeniable literary talent tragically cut short -- Sonia Zhuravlyova * Lady *