Suite Francaise is comprised of the first two parts of a projected five-part novel portraying life in France in the period beginning in June 1940 when the German Army defeated the French and the Nazis occupied northern France. The first part, “Storm in June,” June depicts the flight of people from Paris in the hours preceding and the days following the arrival of the Germans, focusing on several families that at thrown together in the turbulence. The second part is a vivid and ironic depiction of life in the country town of Bussy, just east of Paris. It shows how the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants coped with the occupation, with some becoming collaborators and others joining the Resistance.

SUMMER READING
The Ghost Writer and Exit Ghost by Philip Roth.