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At the center of the tale is Silvio: in his younger years he fled the boredom of the village and made a life of travel and adventure. Now he’s returned, living in a farmer’s hovel in the middle of the woods, and, much to his family’s chagrin, perfectly content with his solitude. As his narration unfolds, we are given an intimate picture of the loves and infidelities, the scandals, the youthful ardor and regrets of age that tie Silvio to the long-guarded secrets of the past.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 25, 2007 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781415943366
- File size: 99760 KB
- Duration: 03:27:49
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Irene Némirovsky died at Auschwitz in 1942, before her fortieth birthday. Her posthumously published SUITE FRANCAISE became an immediate bestseller, and this novella, set in the prewar days of rural France, is a fitting addition to her legacy. Mark Bramhall tells of Silvio, who left his village a lifetime ago, seeking travel and adventure. With his inheritance spent, the middle-aged adventurer returns home to a farmer's hovel, enjoying his solitude while reflecting on his youth and missed love. With an easy-on-the-ears French accent, Bramhall's voice holds the passion of youth, the regret of middle age, and the bitter wisdom of experience. He takes Némirovsky's elegant, spare tale and breathes life into it. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine -
September 3, 2007
When she was writing Suite Française
in 1940, Némirovsky, who died in Auschwitz in 1942 before turning 40, was also reworking this novel, newly discovered among her papers. Though composed on a smaller canvas, it is another keenly observed study of human nature, and in this case of Burgundy paysans
. In a leisurely narrative, middle-aged narrator Silvio recounts three interlocking stories of love and betrayal over two decades. These secret affairs, he says, can be explained only by “fire in the blood,” the intense passion that can overtake men and women when they are young, highly sexed and vulnerable. Silvio's laconic descriptions of unappeasable desire are seasoned by bitter assessment of the wisdom earned after things cool. Linked through blood and common local history, the characters in this la ronde
of betrayal exist in a seemingly idyllic community that is always alert for deviations from the social code. Némirovsky's restraint in unfolding her story contributes to the emotional crescendo at the story's denouement. In its penetrating distillation of manners and mores, this spare and elegant book makes a worthy follow-up to Suite
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November 26, 2007
Silvio, the narrator of Némirovsky's brief, posthumously published novel, lives alone on his small farm in pre–WWII rural France, committed to his permanent bachelorhood. But as he watches the affairs of young people around him, he recalls his early love life and the dying embers in his spirit start to glow again. Bramhall reflects this well in his deep, harsh voice by building up from Silvio's tone of quiet disdain and aloofness into one of possessive fervor. The French-accented English he uses for all conversation helps listeners place the story on a cognitive map. His voice lulls listeners past noticing the novel's unfinished state. The dropped strands of the plot, the chapters consisting of just a few paragraphs and the scenes with rougher edges all fade thanks to his low but intense growl. Fans of Némirovsky's more polished Suite Française
and romantics with a taste for passionately spoken French, will be swept up by this entrancing and evocative tale. Simultaneous release with the Knopf hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 3).
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