Books about the early days of World War II and the Russian Revolution

The latest additions to New York Review Books, now on sale at 30% off A war novel set near the French-Belgian border and a lyrical memoir by one of Russia's most celebrated poets [In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor]( [READ MORE]( [BALCONY IN THE THE FOREST]( By Julien Gracq Translated from the French and with a foreword by Richard Howard Deep in the Ardennes forest Lieutenant Grange and his men wait for battle against the Germans. It is 1939, but the life of the forest transports Grange to another time in his memory. He recalls his childhood, observes the changing seasons in the forest, and falls in love with a young, free-spirited widow. The dreamlike stasis breaks abruptly in battle, and Richard Howard's translation captures the otherworldliness and existential dread at the heart of Julien Gracq's strange and unforgettable novel. [In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor]( [READ MORE]( [EARTHLY SIGNS MOSCOW DIARIES, 1917-1922]( By Marina Tsvetaeva Edited and translated from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell Marina Tsvetaeva ranks among Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, and Boris Pasternak as one of the most crucial poetic voices of her time. Her suicide at age forty-eight was the sad culmination of a life disrupted by political upheaval. In Earthly Signs, Tsvetaeva wrote from the diaries she kept during the Russian Revolution, expounding on the mundane—waiting in line for sack of potatoes—to the truly harrowing in essays just as poetic as her verse. These diaries provide a vivid eye witness account of Russian history as well as vital insight into Tsvetaeva's life as a writer. [Earthly Signs]( is the December selection in the [NYRB Classics Book Club](. If you join the club by December 13, Earthly Signs will be your first selection. Balcony in the Forest and Earthly Signs are available at 20% off. New York Review Books 435 Hudson Street, Suite 300 New York, NY 10014 [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](