The narrative begins when a postcard arrives bearing the names of four of Berest's ancestors—Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie, and Jacques—who were all killed at Auschwitz in 1942. Years later, prompted by an antisemitic incident at her daughter's school and a desire to understand her heritage, Berest launches a meticulous investigation with her mother, Lélia, to find the sender.

Anne Berest's novel La postal (originally La carte postale ) is a critically acclaimed work of autofiction that investigates the origins of a mysterious anonymous postcard sent to her family home in 2003.

The story traces five generations of the Rabinovitch family as they flee from Russia to Latvia and Palestine before settling in France.

By fictionalizing gaps in the historical record, Berest gives voice and life to ancestors who were otherwise reduced to statistics. Critical Reception