Here is anoth­er insight­ful, beau­ti­ful­ly writ­ten, recent­ly dis­cov­ered nov­el by the author of Suite Fran­caise. Némirovsky had tak­en a few pages from the man­u­script into hid­ing with her daugh­ters dur­ing World War II, and left the rest with a friend for safe­keep­ing. Denise Epstein, the author’s daugh­ter, has ded­i­cat­ed the book to Olivi­er Rubin­stein and to the two men who found it, Olivi­er Philip­pon­nat and Patrick Lien­hardt, among oth­ers. The set­ting for this sto­ry is the same vil­lage to which Némirovsky fled to hide from the Nazis and from where she was deported. 

The sto­ry takes place in a French rur­al vil­lage, won­der­ful­ly described: 

This region, in the mid­dle of France, is both wild and rich. Every­one lives in his own house, on his own land, dis­trusts his neigh­bors, har­vests his wheat, counts his mon­ey and doesn’t give a thought to the rest of the world. … part of a rich blood­line that loves every­thing that has its roots in the land. … Their hous­es are impos­ing and iso­lat­ed, built far from the vil­lages and pro­tect­ed by great for­bid­ding doors like the doors you find in prisons. 

Sil­vio, an elder­ly man (with a mys­te­ri­ous past that is revealed slow­ly) enjoys his wine and his soli­tude in a large, drafty, decay­ing home, is vis­it­ed by his cousin Hélène, her hus­band, their daugh­ter, Colette, and her future hus­band. This vis­it and the events that tran­spire a few years after the young couple’s mar­riage, draw Sil­vio back into the life of his fam­i­ly and the vil­lage. Long-guard­ed secrets are revealed as the nov­el unfolds: mar­riage and infi­deli­ty, loy­al­ties set against love and betray­al; scan­dal vying with rep­u­ta­tions, youth­ful pas­sions and the regrets of old age. The fore­shad­ow­ing is so sub­tle, that the final rev­e­la­tion is total­ly unexpected.