The book
A MAY 2023 INDIE NEXT PICK
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023
WINNER OF THE AMERICAN CHOIX GONCOURT PRIZE
WINNER OF THE PRIX RENAUDOT DES LYCÉENS
WINNER OF THE ELLE READERS PRIZE
FINALIST FOR THE GONCOURT PRIZE
Anne Berest’s The Postcard is among the most acclaimed and beloved French novels of recent years. Luminous and gripping to the very last page, it is 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, 2003. 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.
“Full of suspense and emotion, The Postcard is a quest for origins that plunges us into the darkest hours of European history. A deeply moving book.”—Leïla Slimani, author of The Perfect Nanny
The author
Anne Berest
Anne Berest is the bestselling co-author of How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are (Doubleday, 2014) and the author of a novel based on the life of French writer Françoise Sagan. With her sister Claire, she is also the author of Gabriële, a critically acclaimed biography of her great-grandmother, Gabriële Buffet-Picabia, Marcel Duchamp’s lover and muse. She is the great-granddaughter of the painter Francis Picabia. For her work as a writer and prize-winning showrunner, she has been profiled in publications such as French Vogue and Haaretz newspaper. The recipient of numerous literary awards, The Postcard was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize and has been a long-selling bestseller in France.
Press
- May 19 2023
“A brilliant work of autofiction.”
— Shelf Awareness (Starred Review) - May 16 2023
“[A] powerful literary work.”
— The New York Times Book Review - May 15 2023
“Moving.”
— The Wall Street Journal - May 15 2023
“An Unsigned Postcard Named Four Family Members Who Died in the Holocaust. Why?”
— New York Times - May 12 2023
“Stunning.”
— The New Yorker - May 1 2023
“A can’t-miss novel.”
— Chicago Review of Books