One of the nicer surprises of the book is the beautiful relationship between two gay men. This book is not just about fleeing from the Nazis, but also from your true self, and how people in any time in history can run away from their identities in pursuance of a personhood that feels more in-line with the mainstream. Ironically, the bravery of those fighting antisemitism and trying to escape is what makes the character want to own their identity. A central character struggles with having a black father and spends most of his life passing as white. How do you keep the parts of your identity that you want to love, in a society so hateful? Orringer questions building identity in relation to race and sexuality that, sadly, still feel relevant.

Much of the book is about holding on to humanity in the face of the scapegoating, racism and antisemitism. As one character notes, “I know that what we’ve been doing is wrong. But these moments of lightness are then balanced by the serious problem with the ERC’s whole undertaking. Going to Chagall’s villa pre-war, for example, watching how he and his wife interacted and stepping into his studio, gives readers a window into the past and some of the most important people who shaped modern civilization. Seeing the nooks and crannies of the streets, cafes and hotels of Marseilles in 1941, and meeting the luminaries of the literary and art world are undoubtedly highlights of this novel. The book provides the excitement of watching Fry save the likes of Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt and Andre Breton, among many others, but also forces the reader to think about the ethical complexities of deciding whose life is worth saving. Orringer delicately brings the true history of Fry and his organization to life, while also peppering the narrative with fictionalized characters to add dimensions and layers to some of the moral issues around the work of the ERC. His mission was finding the endangered intellectual and artistic lights of the world and smuggling them out of Europe to safety. Julie Orringer’s novel tells the tale of Varian Fry, a journalist and editor, who went to Marseilles, France, in 1941 as part of an organization called the Emergency Rescue Committee ( ERC). The Flight Portfolio reminds readers that despite the profusion of Holocaust literature, poetry and film, there are still stories from the margins of World War II that need to be told.

Julie orringer the flight portfolio