France

Anne Berest

Anne Berest’s first novel to appear in English, The Postcard (Europa, 2023), was a national indie bestseller, a Library Journal, NPR, and TIME Best Book of the Year, a Vogue Most Anticipated Book of the Year, and a finalist for the Goncourt Prize in France. It was described as “stunning” by Leslie Camhi in The New Yorker, as a “powerful literary work” by Julie Orringer in The New York Times Book Review, and as “intimate, profound, essential” in the pages of ELLE magazine. With her sister, Claire Berest, she is also the author of Gabriële (Europa, 2025), a critically acclaimed, best-selling “true novel” based on the life of her great-grandmother, Gabriële Buffet-Picabia, wife of Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp’s lover and muse, a leader of the French Resistance, and an art critic of considerable note. Berest lives in Paris with her family.

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Latest reviews

“The vividness of Berest’s imagination is given all the more force...in quasi-Proustian flashbacks seamed with precise analysis and candid self-disclosure.”

— The Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 26 2024

“A masterfully woven family story covering five generations of women, The Postcard is a true story that reads like a novel, and a historical narrative with lessons still relevant to today.”

— Lilith Magazine, Dec 6 2023

“Will deepen readers’ understanding of that horrific event while clarifying the role of memory, loss, and the past.”

— Library Journal, Dec 4 2023

“Via an intricate web of familial and neighborly relationships, Shannon Bowring brings to life the dramas of this politely distant yet loving community.”

— NPR, Nov 20 2023

“A historical detective story about how to uncover...truths.”

— TIME Magazine, Nov 14 2023

“An “un-put-down-able” book is like a double rainbow—rare and oh so magical.”

— Washington Independent Review of Books, Nov 6 2023

“I highly recommend The Postcard... if only to learn what the true meaning of what it feels like to be the child and grandchild of survivors.”

— The Reporter, Oct 19 2023

“A work of rare grace and importance.”

— The Guardian, Oct 5 2023

“This novel is a beautiful, affecting portrait of mother and daughter searching for their family history.”

— On the Seawall, Jul 12 2023

“Whenever I put it down, I was pulled back by the sheer strength of Berest’s storytelling. Her ability to conjure real people in surreal circumstances while digging deeply into her own psyche is profound.”

— Jewish Journal, Jul 10 2023

★ “[A] brilliant work of autofiction... The book derives enormous power from seemingly small details... This is a gut-wrenching, exceptional work.”

— Shelf Awareness (Starred Review), May 19 2023

“[A] powerful literary work... that contains a single grand-scale act of self-discovery and many moments of historical illumination.”

— The New York Times Book Review, May 16 2023

“Moving…Ms. Berest has done her research, artfully weaving grim facts and figures into her family history…Let’s hope that a book like this, which encompasses both the monstrosities of the past and the dangers of the present, will guard us from complacency.”

— The Wall Street Journal, May 15 2023

“The Postcard recreates in stunning detail the lives of Berest’s lost family members and weaves them into a detective story, loosely centered on the postcard.”

— New York Times, May 15 2023

“The Postcard’s stunning surprise ending...leaves us wondering whether the opposite of memory is not forgetting, but rather indifference."

— The New Yorker, May 12 2023

“The Postcard is a can’t-miss novel from acclaimed French author Anne Berest... Her journey leads her through the history of her family and exposes the secrets her ancestors hid for generations.”

— Chicago Review of Books, May 1 2023

★ “Electrifying... Acknowledging both the horrors of the Holocaust and the humanity of those it targeted, The Postcard is a commanding historical novel.”

— Foreword Reviews (Starred Review), May 1 2023

“Anne Berest’s sweeping autofictional family saga, which traces threads of antisemitism in France from the Holocaust to the present day, has been a sensation in that country, scooping up a basketful of prizes, and being made a finalist for the prestigious Goncourt.”

— The Globe and Mail, Apr 28 2023

“I loved this book so much. I cannot stop thinking about it.”

— Book Riot, Apr 3 2023

“In this sweeping family saga, Berest illuminates opportunities for kindness and betrayal in wartime France and the long echo of the Holocaust's atrocities.”

— Booklist, Apr 1 2023