REVIEWS: 'The Fires of Autumn,' by Irene Nemirovsky, and "The Long and Faraway Gone," by Lou Berney.

The Fires of Autumn

By Irène Némirovsky. (Vintage International, 229 ages, $15)

Who better to describe what happens to humans in wartime?

"The Fires of Autumn," described as a kind of prequel to "Suite Française," is the 11th Némirovsky novel to be translated into English and arrives as the world is observing the centennial of World War I. This short novel tells the story of two Parisian families between the onset of the First World War and the early years of the second.

We see the bravado of men and the apprehension of women as war fever builds. We see the optimism of newlyweds shattered by the reality of war. We see the idealism of the boy soldier Bernard decompose into opportunism in the years between the wars.

On the home front, Thérèse finds herself making the best of a world where the men have been forever changed by their experience, but "good" women are expected to remain the same.

Some scenes echo those in "Suite Française," but this story has a smaller cast of characters and a longer time span. The reader plays the role of the omniscient author: As the characters debate the prospect of war at the beginning, we and the writer know what will happen. At the end, as World War II grinds on, we know what will happen but Némirovsky does not.

The novel's end is made even more poignant by the knowledge that its author, who knew the price of war so well, would soon pay it with her own life.

Maureen McCarthy,

Team leader

The Long and

Faraway Gone

By Lou Berney. (William Morrow, 456 pages $15.)

The third novel from writer Lou Berney is a polished detective tale that unravels new and old mysteries in the American heartland. Las Vegas-based private eye Wyatt Rivers, as a favor to a client, agrees to investigate a minor case in his hometown of Oklahoma City — a place he has avoided for years because of violent crime he witnessed 25 years earlier.

As he investigates why a young female owner of a rock 'n' roll club is being harassed, two unsolved cases from the past intrude. The plot, which echoes some real, unsolved crimes in that city's history, is layered with clever dialogue and humor that make this book a gem.

David Shaffer,

Reporter