The Most Precious of Cargoes : A Tale
Author(s): Jean-Claude Grumberg
Set during the height of World War II, a powerful and unsettling tale about a woodcutter and his wife, who finds a mysterious parcel thrown from a passing train.
Once upon a time in an enormous forest lived a woodcutter and his wife. The woodcutter is very poor and a war rages around them, making it difficult for them to put food on the table. Yet every night, his wife prays for a child.
A Jewish father rides on a train holding twin babies. His wife no longer has enough milk to feed both children. In hopes of saving them both, he wraps his daughter in a shawl and throws her into the forest.
While foraging for food, the wife finds a bundle, a baby girl wrapped in a shawl. Although she knows harboring this baby could lead to her death, she takes the child home.
Set against the horrors of the Holocaust and told with a fairytale-like lyricism, The Most Precious of Cargoes is a fable about family and redemption which reminds us that humanity can be found in the most inhumane of places.
Translated from the French by Frank Wynne
Review(s):
“This swift, intense novelette…is dreamy and ethereal, repeating themes of milk, sustenance, and what it means to love a child. An excellent choice for book clubs.”
“With subtlety and intention, the novella ultimately implores us to consider the purpose of literature after tragedy…It is difficult, in 2020, to write a work of fiction about the Holocaust that is original; even simply in this sense, Grumberg’s work succeeds where many have failed.”
ISBN: 9780062981790