Promised lands -- Memories of a Jewish child without a synagogue -- First names -- Myriam.
An enthralling investigation into family secrets, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life. January, Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest's maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques - all killed at Auschwitz. Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga of a family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling that shatters long-held certainties about Anne's family, her country, and herself.
Translated from the French to English
9781609458386
Berest, Anne, 1979- --Family--Fiction
Anonymous letters--Fiction Jews--Europe--Fiction Jewish families--Fiction Jews--Fiction Exiles--Fiction World War, 1939-1945--France--Fiction Family secrets--Fiction Mothers and daughters--Fiction