The Postcard
The International Bestseller
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
"A deeply moving book." —LEILA SLIMANI *** "A work of rare grace and importance."—THE GUARDIAN
In January 2003, the Berest family receive a mysterious, unsigned postcard. On one side was an image of the Opéra Garnier; on the other, the names of their relatives who were killed in Auschwitz: Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie and Jacques.
Years later, Anne sought to find the truth behind this postcard. She journeys 100 years into the past, tracing the lives of her ancestors from their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris, the war and its aftermath. What emerges is a thrilling and sweeping tale based on true events that shatters her certainties about her family, her country, and herself.
At once a gripping investigation into family secrets, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and an enthralling portrait of 20th-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, The Postcard tells the story of a family devastated by the Holocaust and yet somehow restored by love and the power of storytelling.
READER REVIEWS
"I am rarely moved to tears by books, but the Postcard had me twice. It is so intensely moving, so cleverly structured, and so gripping. This is one of the best books I have read in years." —Tom, Mr B's Emporium bookseller
"One of the best books I've ever read." —Naomi, Netgalley
"This extraordinary 'true novel' is a must-read." —Aoife, Netgalley
"Powerful, painful, important... Highly recommend." —Stephen, Amazon
"This book is more than the blurb, quotes and taglines. It is a feeling to felt, something to be passed on, something to be reflected and something to show the importance in remembering and reading." —Lucy, Waterstones bookseller
"A beautiful masterpiece." —Beth, Amazon
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Berest's phenomenal English-language debut novel (after the nonfiction work How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are), the author pieces together stories of her ancestors who were lost at Auschwitz. In 2003, when Anne is 24, her mother, Lélia, receives a cryptic postcard containing only the names of four relatives, all of whom died in the Holocaust. The postcard remains an enigma until 10 years later, when Anne, now pregnant and visiting her parents' house, decides she's ready to learn more about her roots. In flashbacks sparked by Lélia's stories, Berest builds a touching account of her great-grandparents Emma and Ephraïm Rabinovitz, whose names were on the postcard along with two of their children, and who had fled from four countries before settling in a Paris suburb in 1929. After France is invaded, Ephraïm's business is seized by the government along with his cookware patents, and the family is subjected to curfews and restrictions. Emma and Ephraïm are separated from two of their children, and the four are eventually taken to Auschwitz. With bracing prose, smoothly translated by Kover, Berest takes an unflinching look at antisemitism past and present ("And, I realized now, I was the same age as my mother and grandmother were when they were hit with the insults, the stones.... The pattern was undeniable"). The more Anne learns of her family, the more powerful her story of reclaiming her ancestry becomes. This is brilliant.
