The Most Precious of Cargoes
Jean-Claude Grumberg
Translated by Frank Wynne
21 January 2021Imprint: Picador
Synopsis
Told in the gentle tone of a fable, Jean-Claude Grumberg’s The Most Precious of Cargoes tells the moving story of a woman who wanted a child, and a child who needed a home. It is a tale that teaches us that even in the darkest, most violent times, there is reason to believe in people’s capacity for kindness.
Once upon a...
Details
21 January 2021105 minutes
Allan Corduner
9781529019605Imprint: Picador
Reviews
A magnificent small book to read urgently.Libération
A fable about the Holocaust inspired by what [Grumberg’s] grandfather Naphtali experienced. He appeared in convoy number 45, which left Drancy on November 11, 1942 with 178 women, men and children on board. In convoy number 49, in March 1943, was his father. This tragedy . . . succeeds in mixing the light and the unbearable.Le Figaro
In a few years, the witnesses of the Shoah, those who knew the camps and returned, will no longer be there to tell what happened . . . To put into words what "negates all literature", the writer and playwright Jean-Claude Grumberg has chosen the form of a tale.L’Obs
A tale is the best way to talk about what is hard to believe and imagine.France Culture
