News of Our Loved Ones
Summary (from the publisher): Set in France and America, News of Our Loved Ones is a haunting and intimate examination of love and loss, beauty and the cost of survival, witnessed through two generations of one French family, whose lives are all touched by the tragic events surrounding the D-Day bombings in Normandy.
What if your family’s fate could be traced back to one indelible summer?
Over four long years, the Delasalle family has struggled to live in their Nazi occupied village in Normandy. Maman, Oncle Henri, Yvonne, and Françoise silently watched as their Jewish neighbors were arrested or wordlessly disappeared. Now in June 1944, when the sirens wail each day, warning of approaching bombers, the family wonders if rumors of the coming Allied invasion are true—and if they will survive to see their country liberated.
For sixteen-year-old Yvonne, thoughts of the war recede when she sees the red-haired boy bicycle past her window each afternoon. Murmuring to herself I love you, I love you, I love you, she wills herself to hear the whisper of his bicycle tires over the screech of Allied bombs falling from the sky.
Yvonne’s sister, Geneviève, is in Paris to audition for the National Conservatory. Pausing to consider the shadow of a passing cloud as she raises her bow, she does not know that her family’s home in Normandy lies in the path of British and American bombers. While Geneviève plays, her brother Simon and Tante Chouchotte, anxiously await news from their loved ones in Normandy.
Decades later, Geneviève, the wife of an American musician, lives in the United States. Each summer she returns to her homeland with her children, so that they may know their French family. Geneviève’s youngest daughter, Polly, becomes obsessed with the stories she hears about the war, believing they are the key to understanding her mother and the conflicting cultures shaping her life.
Moving back and forth in time, told from varying points of view, News of Our Loved Ones explores the way family histories are shared and illuminates the power of storytelling to understand the past and who we are.
What if your family’s fate could be traced back to one indelible summer?
Over four long years, the Delasalle family has struggled to live in their Nazi occupied village in Normandy. Maman, Oncle Henri, Yvonne, and Françoise silently watched as their Jewish neighbors were arrested or wordlessly disappeared. Now in June 1944, when the sirens wail each day, warning of approaching bombers, the family wonders if rumors of the coming Allied invasion are true—and if they will survive to see their country liberated.
For sixteen-year-old Yvonne, thoughts of the war recede when she sees the red-haired boy bicycle past her window each afternoon. Murmuring to herself I love you, I love you, I love you, she wills herself to hear the whisper of his bicycle tires over the screech of Allied bombs falling from the sky.
Yvonne’s sister, Geneviève, is in Paris to audition for the National Conservatory. Pausing to consider the shadow of a passing cloud as she raises her bow, she does not know that her family’s home in Normandy lies in the path of British and American bombers. While Geneviève plays, her brother Simon and Tante Chouchotte, anxiously await news from their loved ones in Normandy.
Decades later, Geneviève, the wife of an American musician, lives in the United States. Each summer she returns to her homeland with her children, so that they may know their French family. Geneviève’s youngest daughter, Polly, becomes obsessed with the stories she hears about the war, believing they are the key to understanding her mother and the conflicting cultures shaping her life.
Moving back and forth in time, told from varying points of view, News of Our Loved Ones explores the way family histories are shared and illuminates the power of storytelling to understand the past and who we are.
Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel from HarperCollins.
This novel follows the ramifications of the D-Day bombings on the Delasalle family, whose story is irrevocably changed due to the war. Told from a revolving perspective of multiple family members as well as some friends, including sisters Yvonne and Genevieve, their mother Pauline, their aunt Chouchotte, Genevieve's daughter Polly, and others, this novel highlights the connections that bind families together. Additionally, the various perspectives illustrate that each member of the family holds a piece of the story that cannot be known or understood without that individual.
Like all novels focusing on World War II, this novel was one of loss, hardship, and tragedy. Many of the characters are only focused on for one chapter, which was almost tantalizing, as I was left wanting to read more from particular characters' point of view. This in turn helped to illustrate the nature of loss, for just like the rest of the family, I was left robbed of the rest of the story when a character died before narrating another section. In some ways, this novel almost functions as a series of related short stories, as the perspective shifts so much. In sum, nine different characters' perspectives are featured. This novel also highlights the fickle nature of life in determining the path we all take; the course of each character's life seems easily profoundly altered by various events, many beyond their control.
A powerful book that gave a new spin on the plentiful WWII novels and one that focuses on the interconnections between family. Moving across time and from France to America, the novel follows the family across the decades following the war to illustrate that long lasting effects of the war.
Stars: 3
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