In November 1940, Irène Némirovsky sent two short stories signed "C. Michaud" to Aujourd'hui, a Parisian daily still directed by Henri Jeanson. La Peur has been returned to its author with the mention "non, censuré" crossed out. Inspired by a real fact, this story tells the murder of a peasant by his neighbor who took him for a spy.
October 29: Ir ne N mirovsky is published under a pseudonym. At times, unbearable anguish. Sensation of November: Plans to write a novel about the Church and the June 1940 Exodus, provisionally titled Panic, or Temp te, on the model of La Mousson (The Rains Came) by Louis Bromfield (1937).
