The Postcard

By: Anne Berest, Tina Kover - translator

Narrated by: Barrie Kealoha

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling.

January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz.

Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga that shatters long-held certainties about Anne’s family, her country, and herself.

©2023 Anne Berest and Tina Kover (P)2023 Europa Editions

Critic reviews

AN INSTANT NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER

Named a Most Anticipated Book by the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Bustle, Book Riot, Vogue

Named a May ABA Indie Next Pick

Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, the Prix Renaudot des lycéens, and the ELLE Readers Prize

“Powerful, meticulously imagined... The Postcard (translated into a lucid and precise English by Tina Kover) takes its readers on a deep dive into one Jewish family’s history, and, inextricably, into the devastating history of the Holocaust in France... [A] powerful literary work... that contains a single grand-scale act of self-discovery and many moments of historical illumination.”—Julie Orringer, The New York Times Book Review

“Moving…Ms. Berest has done her research, artfully weaving grim facts and figures into her family history…Let’s hope that a book like this, which encompasses both the monstrosities of the past and the dangers of the present, will guard us from complacency.”—Heller McAlpin, The Wall Street Journal

“In what feels like a literary magic trick, Berest transforms her own family’s complex and heartbreaking Holocaust history into a novel that masterfully blends elements of drama, mystery and philosophy. It’s propulsive yet deep—an intimate, exacting contemplation of loss that somehow ends in love.”—Kate Tuttle, People Magazine

The storytelling was incredible!

This book is a must read!! The things she went through to learn more about her family are incredible. I could not stop listening. So good.

Devastating

Loved the combination of history, interesting characters, personal stories, and the mystery of the postcard. The plot and braiding of the stories made it very suspenseful.

An Achingly Beautiful and Painful Explanation of Loss and Memory

This book is included in Anne Boggle’s 2023 Summer Reading Guide. It’s the first I’ve finished. This absorbing story of family, love, loss alienation, and the fragments that are passed down is beautiful. It’s a reckoning. This book needs to be read today.

Moving and informative

Written in the form of an unfolding investigation into the source of a postcard, this story of one family’s odyssey, is the tragic narrative of a family’s troubled relationship to its Jewishness while also serving as a stand-in for Europe’s troubled relationship to its Jews. Except for a few jarring pronunciations of the Hebrew, the narrator does a lovely job in conveying the characters. I found the story moving, enlightening, and very worthwhile.

Incredible

This book is beautifully written and absolutely haunting. The performance was perfect and I enjoyed this so much.

Wow.

I stopped reading this near the beginning. And I began reading reviews! Push through. And I am so glad i did. This book is amazing. I’m going to be thinking about this for a long time

The author’s words deserve a better narrator

The narrator is monotonous and makes very little distinction between the voices/words of the characters to the point where it’s difficult to tell who’s speaking.

Excellent

Sometimes a nail bitter and sometimes a tearjerker. Excellent story with an underlying thought that history repeats itself.

Gripping

The format of jumping back and forth in time works well here. And doesn’t solve the mystery until the very end.

Easily The BEST Book

I couldn’t stop listening to this book. The research is fascinating and deep. The story is compelling. My heart hurts and sings in equal measure. The details is necessary to tell the story and they burn scars in my heart that I will never forget. I too have family who perished in the Holocaust. I’m not as close or connected, I’m one family member removed, but I feel the pain and know it could have been me. This book should be the next required reading. It is the story of my generation’s passage through our family’s history and trauma. Amazing book!