IN 1941, Irène Némirovsky and her husband fled Paris for the small village of Issy-l'Eveque to join the two daughters they had sent there two years earlier.

Once there, Irene embarked on a novel that would convey the magnitude of the times France was living through, not in terms of the political background, but through the personal lives and experiences of the ordinary, and some not quite so ordinary, people of the country.

The notes found with the two movements' Irène completed indicated that she had envisaged a book of a thousand pages, constructed like a symphony.

She did not live to complete the book and, by July 1942, was convinced that she would not live to do so. A letter written to her editor at Albin Michel two days before the French police arrived to arrest her left no doubt of how she saw her situation: "I have done a lot of writing," she wrote. "I suppose they will be posthumous works, but it helps pass the time."

Set during the year that begins with the Nazi invasion of France in June 1940 and ends with Germany turning its attention to Russia, Suite Française is written in two parts.

The first, a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion and make their way through the chaos of France; the second describes a small rural community under occupation whose residents find their lives colliding in totally unexpected ways.

Némirovsky's brilliance as a writer lay in her portrayal of people and this is a novel packed with wonderful characters, each one brought vividly to life, from every stratum of society, from the privileged to the totally uncouth. The temptations, the compromises and the hypocrisy born of living under the Nazis are all here, but so, too, are love and hope.

In an interview with the BBC in January 2006, Irène's daughter, Denise, said: "For me, the greatest joy is knowing that the book is being read.

"It is an extraordinary feeling to have brought my mother back to life. It shows that the Nazis did not truly succeed in killing her. It is not vengeance, but it is a victory."

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID "Suite Française is the most powerful account of that time and place many of us have ever read I defy anyone to read it without tears of admiration and pity for its author."

Max Hastings, Daily Mail

"It is quite outstanding, full of beauty, pain and truth."

Anne Chisholm, Sunday Telegraph

"Suite Française is one of those rare books that demands to be read."

Helen Dunmore, Guardian

THIS MONTH'S WINNER IS ... The winner of last month's selection of titles from Vintage Books was Kathleen Cole, of Kington. She wrote about last month's book choice, A Spot of Bother. She said: "I don't think I would have picked up this book by choice, but the article in the Hereford Times led me to give it a go. Whoopee - I'm glad you did as I found that I couldn't put it down. George was the one person I felt for the most as he seemed to just want to have a quiet life. It was as if everybody had left him behind and had got on with their own lives.

"As for describing it as a typical British novel, I am not so sure, but it does have a mixture of past and present attitudes that you could say were typically British."

Your chance to win

There's another bundle of Vintage Books to be won in this month's Book Group competition.

Simply let us know what you think about this month's featured title - Suite Française - and your review could win you the prize. Simply add your comment below or write to us at HT Book Group, Hereford Times, Holmer Road, Hereford HR4 9UJ, with your review, name, address and contact details. The winning review will appear in next month's HT Book Group and its author will win a selection of paperbacks. Usual competition rules apply. Deadline for entries is midnight on Thursday, May 1.

HOW TO ORDER Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, translated by Sandra Smith, is published by Vintage Books, rrp £7.99, offer price £7.59 To order, call the Hereford Times Bookshop on 08700 713317 or send your cheque/postal order made payable to Hereford Times Bookshop to: Hereford Times Bookshop, PO Box 60, Helston, Cornwall TR13 0TP. Please allow seven to 10 working days for delivery.