Ernaux wrote A Woman's Story (1991, translated edition) after witnessing her mother's death. In it she weaves a tale between fact and fiction about her mother's experiences before, during, and after World War II in France. The book was named a New York Times Notable Book.

In A Man's Place (1992, translated edition), Ernaux reveals the disparities that existed between her father and herself. He was raised in the country and knew only of country ways. Ernaux ran to the city and an urban existence as soon as she was old enough to do so. Ernaux was as eager to get away from the country life as her father was to cling to it.

For a male perspective on growing up in Europe both during and after World War II, All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs (1996), by Elie Wiesel, relates the...