Dora Bruder

October 15, 1999
Acclaimed French novelist Modiano weaves an oddly compelling blend of true-life mystery tale and family memoir against the backdrop of the Holocaust. While scanning a World War II^-era Paris newspaper in 1988, Modiano finds a personal advertisement concerning a missing 15-year-old Jewish girl, Dora Bruder. Compelled by familiarity with the neighborhood mentioned in the advertisement and by personal curiosity, Modiano begins to painstakingly trace the history of the missing girl from her birth to the convent school from which she ran away in 1941 to her deportation to Auschwitz in 1942. Along the way, his investigation brings him face-to-face with reminders of his earlier life, as well as with memories of his father, who, like Dora, was rounded up by the Jewish Affairs police in Paris in 1942. Although at times the progress of events seems somewhat arbitrary, Modiano's short book ends strongly and leaves the reader thankful for the power of memory and imagination to combat loss. ((Reviewed October 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)