Title: The Paris DaughterAuthor: Kristin Harmel
Published by: Gallery Books on Jun. 6, 2023
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
Source: Simon & Schuster Canada
Book Rating: 10/10
From the bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation.
Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.
When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.
More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.
The Paris Daughter is a sweeping celebration of resilience, motherhood, and love.
Review:
Enthralling, poignant, and atmospheric!
The Paris Daughter is an alluring, heart-wrenching tale predominantly set in Paris and New York City between 1939 and the early 1960s that takes you into the life of a handful of people whose lives are unimaginably changed when a young woman, Elise LeClair, decides to leave her daughter for the remainder of the war in the safe hands of her best friend Juliette only to learn upon her return that the bookshop where the family of six had presided was accidentally bombed during an afternoon raid leaving behind ash, ruins, devastation, and only two living souls.
The prose is fluid and exquisite. The characters are tormented, brave, and resilient. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine seamlessly into an absorbing tale of life, loss, family, tragedy, desperation, secrets, friendship, motherhood, separation, and war.
Overall, The Paris Daughter is one of those novels that sweeps you away so thoroughly to another time and place that before you know it you’re turning the final page and the afternoon is gone. It’s a charged, moving, impactful tale by Harmel that does a beautiful job of reminding us that a mother’s love is all-encompassing, selfless, powerful, and everlasting.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Kristin Harmel
Kristin Harmel is the international bestselling author of THE ROOM ON RUE AMELIE, THE SWEETNESS OF FORGETTING, THE LIFE INTENDED, WHEN WE MEET AGAIN, and several other novels. Her latest, THE WINEMAKER'S WIFE, is coming in August 2019 from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster. A former reporter for PEOPLE magazine, Kristin has also freelanced for many other publications, including American Baby, Men’s Health, Glamour, Woman’s Day, Travel + Leisure, and more.
Kristin grew up in Peabody, Mass.; Worthington, Ohio; and St. Petersburg, Fla., and she graduated with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida. After spending time living in Paris, she now lives in Orlando, Fla., with her husband and young son.
Photograph by Phil Art Studio, Reims, France.
