All Our Worldly Goods - Irene Nemirovsky

All Our Worldly Goods reads like a prequel to Suite Francaise but is a perfect novel in its own right. In haunting ways this compelling novel prefigures Suite Francaise and some of the themes of Nemirovsky's great unfinished sequence of novels. All Our Worldly Goods though is complete and exquisitely so -- a perfect novel in its own right. First published in France in 1947 after the author's death it is a gripping story of family life and star-crossed lovers set in France between 1910 and 1940. Pierre and Agnes marry for love against the wishes of his parents and the family patriarch the tyrannical industrialist Julien Hardelot provoking a family feud which cascades down the generations. This is Balzac or The Forsyte Saga on a smaller more intimate scale the bourgeoisie observed close-up with Nemirovsky's characteristically sly humour and clear-eyed compassion. Full of drama and heartbreak and telling observations of the devastating effects of two wars on a small town and an industrial family Nemirovsky is at the height of her powers. Taut evocative and beautifully paced the novel points out with heartbreaking detail and clarity how close those two wars were how history repeated itself tragically and shockingly. The story opens in the Edwardian era on a fashionable Normandy beach and ends with a changed world under Nazi occupation.

TITLE: All Our Worldly Goods

AUTHOR: Irene Nemirovsky

SKU: 9780701182144

PUBLISHER: Vintage Publishing

DATE PUBLISHED: 01/10/2008

PLACE PUBLISHED: United Kingdom

PAGES: 208

BINDING: Paperback / softback

LANGUAGE: English

DIMENSIONS: 155 mm x 231 mm x 16 mm

WEIGHT: 284 gr