Real and imagined family stories are woven together to bring to life the author’s own family’s trauma. Both painful and beautiful, it’s a gripping investigation into her family history - a tale of refugees, of the holocaust, of French complicity and French resistance, as well as the usual family conflicts and misunderstandings. Although the structure was a little unsettling at times, it is brilliantly translated, and an emotional read.
Myriam, summing up the situation, wrote later, 'One day, everything was turned upside down.'
The uniqueness of this catastrophe lay in the paradox of its insidious slowness and its viciousness. Looking back, everyone wondered why they hadn’t reacted sooner, when there had been so much time to do so. How had they been so blithely optimistic? But it was too late now.
