Némirovsky, Irène

French author, born in Kyiv by Russian-Jewish parents. Her father was one of the richest bankers of Tsarist Russia, and Irène grew up in material luxury, but without emotional support from her parents. Her mother's complete disinterest in her would eventually give rise to some of the most acerbic mother portraits in literary history. In her loneliness as a teenager, it was precisely to literature that Irène took refuge, and soon she began writing herself. When the Russian October Revolution erupted in 1917, the Némirovsky family was in Moscow. They managed to escape to Finland and after some time, they continued to Sweden and Stockholm. When in 1919 it was clear to Irène's father that he would never be able to return to Russia again, he took up residence with his wife and daughter in Paris, where he took over a branch of his Russian bank. In a short time, he had built up a new fortune, and the family could resume its upper class lifestyle.