France

Anne Berest

Anne Berest’s first novel to appear in English, The Postcard (Europa, 2023), was a national bestseller, a Library Journal, NPR, and TIME Best Book of the Year, a Vogue Most Anticipated Book of the Year, winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, and runner-up for the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. 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. Her new novel, Gabriële (Europa Editions, 2025) is based on the life of Gabriële Buffet, whose extraordinary impact on 20th century avant-garde art and whose remarkable life have largely been obscured. Berest lives in Paris.

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Latest reviews

“A revealing, heartrending biographical novel about a complicated woman whose imprint on art history is undeniable.”

— Foreword Reviews, Mar 1 2025

“A remarkable champion of the avant-garde, unremembered by history, is rescued from obscurity by her great-granddaughters, a pair of writing sisters... An atmospheric excavation of an unusual woman and marriage, both intriguing and remote.”

— Kirkus Reviews, Feb 1 2025

“If you loved Anne Berest’s The Postcard you absolutely must read this furtherance of her most remarkable family’s story... This is an even more astounding, fascinating and enlightening account of a clan like no other.”

— Reading the West, Jan 29 2025

“The Berest sisters follow up Anne’s The Postcard with a colorful portrait of their great-grandmother Gabriële Buffet-Picabia. With lyrical prose, the Berests blend historical context with more intimate insights.”

— Publishers Weekly, Jan 24 2025

“I think it's time we get to know this amazing author better.”

— Advanced Reading Copy, Apr 27 2024

"The drama of Gabriële is less the life-and-death drama that drives The Postcard than the drama of biography, of how an unconventional life unfolds, and the drama of thought, specifically the ideas that change prevailing notions about mimetic art."

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Frenchly

, Apr 22 2024

Like Gabriële herself, this book takes on big ideas about modern art and modern life—without losing sight of the people caught and crushed in those turning gears.

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The New York Times

, Apr 22 2024

“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