It is a true story. The original title is Au nom de tous les miens. The sites that claim it is fiction are usually "historical revisionists" ie Holocaust deniers. Here is a link that might be useful: Martin Gray's official website

I read it a few years ago, and did like it but ended up not finishing it. I found it a little hard to suspend (dis)belief and also found that not being versed in Christianity made it more challenging to follow. It wasn't that I resented the Christian references, but I didn't really "get " some of them and felt I was missing out. I do remember up until that point though, thinking it was a great read.

Another huge fan of Donna Tartt. I have read all three of her books and got The Goldfinch when it came out. DH just finally read it as he wants to see the movie which from the ads I am expecting to be pretty terrible. the book is so complex that it is hard for me to imagine how you could make a movie of it. When you read her beautifully written work you have to accept a sort of alternate universe to appreciate the story line. There is no real reason for Theo to act as he does in any rational world and the same can be said for the other two books. I did sort of bog down in the last bit but became reconciled to it as a necessity to resolve all the complexities of the book. Dickens will come to mind in that everyone and everything always gets tied together in a Donna Tartt book.

What was the Magnaverde quote? Decorate for the life you have, not for the life you wish you had? Perhaps kurashi is a combination of those two concepts? Just in looking at the brief descriptions, I get the impression she wants us to think about how the life we are living jibes with the life we really want to live. Do you have full sets of fine china but entrtain caually? Do you have boot trays overflowing with shoes because you don’t carry your shoes to the bedroom closet, because it’s more convenient to leave them by the door? (solution: fewer shoes or create shoe storage in the closet by the door?) And more such things. So, if you study the way you really live and the way you want to live, some changes should arrive at a point where they converge. And bring you joy. The book is checked out at most of my libraries, and it being new I can’t request it from another. But I can make a short drive to check it out in person. And don’t worry, visiting the other libraries in my system does bring me joy.