The next meeting of the Jewish Book Club is to be on Wednesday, April
14, 2010 at 8:00 pm (NOTE SLIGHTLY LATER START TIME) at the home of
Julia Ward.

The Book: All Our Worldly Goods by Irène Némirovsky trans. Sandra Smith
Paperback: 288 pp
Publisher: Vintage (2 Jul 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0099520443
 
In haunting ways this wonderful, compelling novel prefigures Suite Fran
çaise and some of the themes of Némirovsky’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, of money and greed, set against the backdrop
of France from 1911 to 1940 between two terrible wars.
 
Pierre and Agnès 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 Forsyth Saga on a smaller, more intimate scale, the
bourgeoisie observed close-up with Némirovsky’s characteristically sly
humour and clear-eyed compassion. Full of drama and heartbreak, telling
observation of the devastating effects of two wars on a small town and
an industrial family, this is Némirovsky at the height of her powers.

The exodus and flow of refugee humanity through the town in both wars
foreshadows Suite Française, but differently, because this is Northern
France, near the Somme, and the town itself is twice razed. Taut,
evocative and beautifully paced, the novel points up with heartbreaking
detail and clarity how close were those two wars, how history repeated
itself, tragically, shockingly...

It opens in the Edwardian era, on a
fashionable Normandy beach, and ends with a changed world, under Nazi
occupation. (Random House)
 
A beautiful writer - lucid, bright ... She misses nothing. - The Times
 
A quietly experimental work that combines the sweep of a 19th century
novel – albeit in exquisite miniature – with a modernist’s multiple
perspectives. - Independent
 
A gorgeous novel – witty, tender and true. - Financial Times
 
A compelling tale of family life during two horrifying wars in France,
and the excruciating inevitability of history repeating itself. -
Scotland on Sunday
 
Read without knowledge of Némirovsky’s own story, All Our Worldly Goods
would be a delicate and subtle study of lives swept up by forces beyond
their control or understanding. Knowing what we know, its optimistic
conclusion is as poignant as anything can be. - Daily Telegraph
 
Happy reading!
 
Byron Simmonds
Tel 01508 538 666
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Maureen Leveton
Tel 01603 749 706
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JOIN THE CLUB!
 
Book clubs are a great idea at any time. First of all you get to read a
book.
 
We hate to admit it, but in the case of the Jewish Book Club, even
reading the book is not obligatory. Although it does help.
 
The Jewish Book Club meets once every six weeks or thereabouts.
Meetings are relaxed. Nothing too serious. In fact, nothing serious at
all. It's all about getting out and having a friendly chat. And maybe,
every so often, offering your home for a meeting (also, not obligatory)
 
So, give it a go. We are waiting to hear from you.
 
Support your Jewish community!
 
— Byron Simmonds, Maureen Leveton