Review: Fire in the Blood

Fire in the Blood
by Irène Némirovsky

written in the late 1930s

translated from the French by Sandra Smith and published in 2007

ABOUT
Némirovsky was a prominent French author who was executed at Auschwitz in 1942. Before her death, she entrusted some of her writing to her daughter, which became the novel "Suite Française." (Read more about this, and my review, HERE.)

Papers that were given by Némirovsky to her editor were found by Olivier Philipponnat and Patrick Lienhardt, who had been commissioned to write a biography of Némirovsky. Included in this collection was the manuscript of "Fire in the Blood" which was translated by Sandra Smith and published in 2007.

"Fire in the Blood" is set in a rural village in France and is narrated by the elderly Silvio. The story revolves around two young woman - Colette, the newly married daughter of Silvio's cousin Hélène, and Brigitte, a young girl who was raised by Hélène's half-sister Cécile.

Without giving too much away, "Fire in the Blood" is about love and passion, betrayals and secrets, loyalty and integrity.

"How is this fire lit within us? It devours everything and then, in a few years, a few months, a few hours even, it burns itself out. Then you see how much damage has been done."

MY THOUGHTS
Némirovsky's writing style is at times poetic and evocative.

"For I sometimes feel I’ve been rejected by life, as if washed ashore by the tide. I’ve ended up on a lonely beach, an old boat, still solid and seaworthy, but whose paint has faded in the water, eaten away by salt."

At other times, it is spare and precise.

"We've had a very cold summer and not much fruit. Nothing new has happened locally."

These sharply contrasting styles are precisely what gives the strength and structure to the book. These are the bookends that hold together the opposing wild fire of passion and the chilling ice of conflict.

"Fire in the Blood" is a profound and philosophical story. What is right? What is wrong? Is betrayal always wrong? What constitutes loyalty? Are all dreams meant to be chased, or should some of them be laid aside?

And the last passage? Oh. my. goodness. Most beautiful, most amazing, most perfect ending to a book EVER.

RATING
I want to read it again. Immediately.

I read this book for the Paris In July blog event.

Read another review of "Fire in the Blood" at The Novel World.