The Misunderstanding - Hardcover

N�mirovsky, Ir�ne

3.69

1,297 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701186755 ISBN 13: 9780701186753

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2012

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The Misunderstanding is Ir�ne N�mirovsky'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 with 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 flounders 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, Ir�ne N�mirovsky's first novel shows sure signs of the brilliant novelist she was to become.

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Review:

"How easy it is to be drawn into this superb period novel" (The Connexion)

"Written when the author was just 21 years old, The Misunderstanding 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. The two central figures are exquisitely drawn, with Yves, in particular, a remarkable portrait of the deep pain and wounded pride of a man born to luxury and living in reduced circumstances" (Michael Arditti Daily Mail)

"Knowing, empathic and sophisticated: it’s a wonder that someone so young could have written it" (Anne Haverty Irish Times)

"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)

"An astonishingly mature account of a doomed adulterous affair... it deserves to be ranked alongside all the other fine novels by this great writer" (Irish Independent)

Book Description:

An intense story of self-destructive love: Ir�ne N�mirovsky's first novel, written when she was just twenty-one

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