Le Bal

Irène Némirovsky was born in 1903 in Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire, into a wealthy family. Her father, Léon, was a banker. Faced with the Russian Revolution in 1917, the family decided to flee the Red Army. After a year in Finland, they ended up settling in Paris.
In France, she achieved success soon after the publication of David Golder, her first novel, in 1929, adapted for film the following year. The same would happen with the author's second novel, Le Bal (1930), helping to consolidate his fame. These two were followed by important works such Autumn Flies (1931), The Kurilof Case (1933) or Jezebel (1936). Despite being a renowned and prestigious writer, when war comes to France, the author sees her career interrupted because of her Jewish ancestry. She is prevented from writing and the sale of her books is prohibited.
In 1942, Irène Némirovsky was arrested and deported by the Vichy government to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she died at only 39 years old. Having fallen into oblivion during the post-war period, the work of this author was justly rediscovered and gained international visibility with the publication, in 2004, of her previously unknown unfinished novel. French Suite, a genuine worldwide success and posthumous winner of the award Renaudot.