I personally recommend this book for two reasons:
1. Unlike many historical fiction books about World War Two, it looks into the lives and actions of a cross-section of humanity involved in the conflict. Poor to rich and mega rich, Catholic, Jew, and downright amoral, German and French, military and civilian, young and old. All these people had to interact with each other at various levels when Germany entered Paris and the French government fled to Vichy.
2. If you aspire to writing or wonder how writers come up with their ideas and develop their plots, the appended notes gives incredible insight and is particularly poignant as the author wrote this while in hiding and under the constant stress of discovery and deportation.
Irene Nemirovsky was a Jewish immigrant and recognized writer in Paris when war broke out. Her goal was to write a series of novellas of life under occupation. She completed two: Storm in June and Dolce. The remainder of the book is her notes for future novels and letters. The fact is that Irene died in Auschwitz 17 August, 1942. Her children who were hidden separately survived and one daughter discovered the hidden manuscript decades later.
The book was originally published in France in 2004. Knopf first published the book in March 2006. This is the 14th printing, October 2006. The book is 395 pages. It is unclipped and like new although read once carefully. It has always been in a non-smoking home.
