A Woman of Letters

Karen Matthews at the AP writes up the opening of a new exhibit centered around Irene Nemirovsky that opens today at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park. I took my visiting mother to yesterday morning’s advance event and we were both very moved by what we saw, whether it was the suitcase that held most of Nemirovsky’s literary belongings, the original manuscript of SUITE FRANCAISE, copies of letters written as conditions worsened and arrests loomed, or pictures of the Nemirovsky/Epstein clan. Her surviving daughter, Denise, was also on hand for the opening and radiated dignity and warmth even though one had to think seeing all her family artifacts behind glass coverings was more than a bit painful. In any case, the exhibit is on until March 22 and is definitely worth seeing if you have any connection to literature whatsoever.