Jonathan Littell is a writer and a dual citizen of the United States and France and is of Jewish background. His first novel written in French, Les Bienveillantes, won two major French awards. Littell is the son of author Robert Littell. Although his grandparents were Jews who emigrated from Russia to the United States at the end of the 19th century, Littell does not define himself as a Jew "at all," and is quoted as saying, "for me, Judaism is more of historical background." Les Bienveillantes, or The Kindly Ones, has been acquired by HarperCollins for publication in the United States and has been translated into German, Spanish, Hebrew and several other languages. The narrator and protagonist is Dr Maximilien von Aue, a former officer in the Sicherheitsdienst, the secret service of the Schutzstaffel, the elite Nazi military organization that operated within and alongside the German army during World War II. Now an elderly lace merchant living under an assumed name in the north of France, Max is married, has twin children, and is bored with his life. His attempt to tell “how it happened” mainly covers the period from June 1941, the beginning of the German invasion of Soviet Russia, to April 1945, when Russian troops conquered Berlin… You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Kindly Ones” by Jonathan Littell on our website.
