“Finistère” by Anne Berest: a vibrant novel about heritage
Four years ago, Anne Berest received the Renaudot des lycéens prize for La Carte postale , the saga of her maternal family, a lineage that partly disappeared in the concentration camps. It was very successful: the writer is a professional in family novels. For several years, she worked with people eager to leave their testimony. Recordings, archival documents, letters—the novelist is an expert at collecting raw material. This method, which she strives to apply to her own family, gave birth to this new saga, just as fascinating as the first, although radically different. Territorial roots, patrilineal transmission, and political commitment are all strong elements on which the author draws to unfold the major events of the last century and compose her story.
La Croıx
