Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky

I read this book in two sittings, which is to say, once I was twenty pages in, I couldn't put it down. Némirovsky's elegant prose, subtle connections and juxtapositions, and graceful attention to nuance all contribute to this book's remarkable power. Set in the heart of the Nazi occupation of France, the book remains strikingly incomplete (Némirovsky wrote only two of five planned sections before she was arrested and murdered by the Nazis), yet one wonders whether it could have been finished, given the conditions of its creation. Her ambition is equal to that of Tolstoy or Proust, and the book is one I most enthusiastically recommend.