Irene Nemirovsky is was Russian born, in 1903. This was a time where travel and living in other countries was an adventure that just had to be taken, especially when you come from a wealthy banking family and it’s the Russian Revolution, like in Irene’s case. She emigrated, not fled- let’s be clear, to France where she had a beautiful life which included studying at the Sorbonne. It was there where she polished her skills as writer filled with imagination and experience. Her charmed life as a novelist quickly and almost out of the blue to this idealist Russian Jew was ripped apart as the Holocaust took everything sacred and dear from her. 
Irene had published 14 works in her life, none of which were politically driven. Still, despite the fact that she had converted to Catholicism, and her huge impact made on the French cultural world, she was deported to Auschwitz where she died in 1942.
Irene was such a talent, and had so many words floating in her head that 7 of her works were later found and published, posthumously.
2 of her novels that are popular in the United States are “Suite Francaise” and “Fire in the Blood”. I just finished “Fire in the Blood” and her ability to put you in the story, standing next to the main character is fantastic. She writes vividly and beautifully.
Please find more information about these two books:
http://www.nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=414
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780307267481.html
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