Synopsis
An intense story of self-destructive love: Irčne Nčmirovsky's first novel, written when she was just twenty-one.
The Misunderstanding is Irčne Némirovsky's first novel, written when she was just twenty-one and published in a literary journal two years later. An intense story of self-destructive and blighted love, it is also a tragic satire of French society after the Great War.
Yves Harteloup, scarred by the war, is a disappointed young man, old money fallen on hard times, who returns for the summer to the rich, comfortable Atlantic resort of Hendaye, where he spent blissful childhood holidays. He becomes infatuated by a beautiful, bored young woman, Denise, whose rich husband is often away on business. Intoxicated by summer nights and Yves' intensity, Denise falls passionately in love, before the idyll has to end and Yves must return to his mundane office job.
In the mournful Paris autumn their love founders on mutual misunderstanding, in the apparently unbridgeable gap between a life of idle wealth and the demands of making a living, between a woman's needs and a man's way of loving. As Denise is driven mad with desire and jealous suspicion, Yves, too sure of her, tortures himself and her with his emotional ambivalence. Taking her sophisticated mother's advice, Denise takes action... which she may regret forever.
With a sharp satirical eye and a characteristic perception for the fault lines in human relationships, Irčne Némirovsky's first novel shows sure signs of the brilliant novelist she was to become.
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About the Author
IRČNE NČMIROVSKY was born in Kiev in 1903, the daughter of a successful Jewish banker. In 1918 her family fled the Russian Revolution for France where she became a bestselling novelist, author of David Golder, Le Bal, The Courilof Affair, All Our Worldly Goods and other works published in her lifetime or afterwards, such as Suite Française and Fire in the Blood. The Misunderstanding (Le Malentendu) was first published in France in Les OEuvres libres in 1926. Némirovsky was prevented from publishing when the Germans occupied France and moved with her husband and two small daughters from Paris to the safety of the small village of Issy-l'Evęque (in German occupied territory). She died in Auschwitz in 1942.
Review
"How easy it is to be drawn into this superb period novel" * The Connexion * "An irresistible talent" * Guardian * "Dazzling... Extraordinary... A wonder" * Irish Times * "Shows remarkable understanding of the mysteries of the human heart and the social, familial and economic pressures that pull two lovers apart, even as passion draws them closer" -- Michael Arditti * Daily Mail * "This is an astonishingly mature work of art. This study in the fleeting nature of happiness is immaculately translated by Sandra Smith" -- Paul Bailey * Independent *
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