A New Family Tree

A selection of works by Irene Nemirovsky at a Toulouse bookshop. We were so proud of our cousin.

Here I am interviewing Denise Epstein. I kept switching between French and English because I was nervous. I am excited to listen back to my 'tape' from the afternoon. In the picture after this one, I am interviewing Denise's daughter who is also called Irene. I wasn't sure how Denise would respond to the microphone, but she is a natural. I was stumbling, though.

Denise's apartment in Toulouse. Denise has many, many books. Jaime asked her how many, but Denise said she never counted. When Jaime asked Denise how many times she read Suite Francaise, Denise said she knew the book by heart.

Denise and her stunning daughter Irene. Irene is fluent in Russian. She has two daughters, Juliette and Nina. We joked today about Nina, because I have a cat named Nina. Denise and Irene are standing in front of what Denise calls her Nemirovsky library. She has hundreds of her mother's books in English, French, Italian, Hebrew, Korean and other languages. We look forward to the day when we can add Denise's book to one of our bookshelves.
Denise, Jaime and Diane inside Denise's lovely Toulouse apartment. Behind us is a photo (one of many) of Irene Nemirovsky.
We looked at hundreds of photographs today, from Russia and France.
Denise lost her mother, father, and her father's family during the Holocaust. This is a photo of Denise during happier times. She is pictured with her baby sister Elisabeth.

At times it was painful for her to talk about her life after the war. She did tell us, though, that she knows her father and his sister were in the same barracks at Auschwitz. They were gassed together. She knows this because she has a book that lists the date of death of all the French Jews killed during the war. Here is a page from that book. I know it is very hard to read. But this page says Irene Epstein. Irene Nemirovsky was listed as Irene Epstein.


Denise is incredibly organized. She showed us her closet filled with information and clippings about her late mother, father, sister and Suite Francaise.

Denise's late sister Elisabeth Gille. She died in 1996.
To be continued ...