I’ve grown wary of holocaust novels; if I’m going to read one I want to make sure it feels right. And this one absolutely was.

Obviously a key factor in favour of The Postcard is its authenticity - Berest is telling the story of her family’s history. It’s auto-fiction, which allows her to lay out the facts - everything that happens in the book is true, a lot based on two decades of research by her mother - whilst giving her space to add a cohesive and propulsive narrative to the tale.

I think it’s beautifully done - Berest honours her family whilst also creating a real page-turner, and Kover’s translation makes it so readable.

The entire premise of the book rests on the arrival of a mysterious postcard to the home of Anne’s mother Lélia in 2003. On the back of the card are the names Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie, and Jacques - that’s it. These are the names of her mother’s grandparents and 2 of their 3 children - who would have been Lélia’s aunt and uncle, had they not been murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.

The postcard causes a ripple - Lélia’s mother Myriam was the only surviving child, but they realise how little they know about their family history. They embark on a quest to discover not just who sent the postcard, but who these people were. If you want to find out who sent it though, you’ll have to read it yourself - I found satisfying closure by the books end.

Obviously, there’s content here that’s incredibly sad. It’s chilling not just because you already know the fate of the family but because it succinctly outlines the complicity of governments, police, the legal system and even worse, regular people - neighbours, teachers, friends - in allowing what happened to happen. It also touches on how post-war denial made an already bad situation worse, and how Anne and Lélia struggle to accept their Jewishness in the face of ongoing fears about how this makes them “other”. These themes make for fascinating but disarming reading, again really nicely handled by Berest.

Wow. This was incredible. So so good. A fictionalised story of the history of Anne Berest’s family - so like a fictional non-fiction if that makes sense.
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From the book description - “January 2003: The Berest family receive a mysterious, unsigned postcard. On one side was an image of the Opera Garnier; on the other, the names of their relatives who were killed in Auschwitz: Ephraim, Emma, Noemie and Jacques. Years later, Anne sought to find the truth behind this postcard.”
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Goodness me - this is a powerful story, and an ode or memorial to those they lost. Anne and her mother have done an amazing job of researching the history and it is told in an absorbing and addictive way. I sat with silent tears at the end of it, as well as a few times during.
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Oh and I just read that the woman on the cover is Noemie. 💔❤️

This is a novel based on true events and that is one of the reasons I was drawn to it. The other is I love historical fiction especially based around wartime and this one sounded a bit different from some of the others I have read.

When the Berest family receive a postcard in 2003 with names of relatives that had been killed at Auschwitz so begins the plans to uncover a secret from long ago. This is a very intriguing story and one that is full of emotion and sadness yet brings to life how love can hold a family together.

It is a long book and at times a book that can be hard to read but it is so poignant and heartfelt, it is a gripping and a book that you can't put down. Written and researched well and follows the story well with fact and fiction intertwined to make a wonderful read.

Thank you Net Galley and Allen & Unwin for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.