Author: Jane Healey
Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Mar. 7, 2023
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 413
Format: Paperback
Source: Thomas Allen & Son
Book Rating: 9/10
In Nazi-occupied France, an American film star takes on the most dangerous role of her life in a gripping novel about loyalty and resistance, inspired by a true story, from the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Secret Stealers.
Paris, 1939. Hollywood actress Drue Leyton, married to Frenchman Jacques Tartière, lives as an expatriate in love. But when her husband is dispatched to Brittany to work as a liaison for the British military, Drue finds herself alone with her housekeeper, adrift and heartsick in her adopted city. With her career and fame forty-five hundred miles away, Drue accepts an opportunity that will change her life forever.
Befriended by seasoned wartime journalist Dorothy Thompson and urged on by political operative Jean Fraysse, Drue broadcasts radio programs to the United States. Her duty: shake America from its apathy and, as Nazis encroach and France is occupied, push for resistance and help from the US. As Drue and Jean fall under suspicion, Hitler sends his own message: when Drue’s adopted country is conquered, she will be executed.
In a Paris that is no longer safe, Drue’s political passion is ignited. She’s prepared to risk anything to fight the enemy no matter how dangerous it gets—for her, for everyone she loves, and for everything she’s fighting for.
Review:
Captivating, heart-tugging, and absorbing!
Goodnight from Paris is an immersive, tender tale set in Nazi-Occupied France during WWII that follows American actress Drue Leyton Tartière who, after her husband heads off to Brittany as a liaison for the British military, takes a job working for Jean Fraysse at Paris Mondiale broadcasting the true horrors of war to the American people while also doing whatever she can, even at the detriment to her own safety, to help as many downed Allied pilots as possible escape the enemy and find their way home.
The prose is rich and vivid. The characters are brave, vulnerable, and strong. And the plot is a compelling blend of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, betrayal, survival, danger, grief, war, friendship, romance, and selflessness.
Overall, Goodnight from Paris is a bittersweet, affecting, atmospheric tale inspired by real-life events that sweeps you away to another time and place and does an exceptional job of reminding you that survival of any form takes unimaginable sacrifice, enormous courage, and exceptional strength.
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Thank you to Thomas Allen & Son & Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.