The Paris Daughter

Enjoyable book.

This historical fiction book begins in Paris, 1939 and continues to New York City twenty years later. Elise feels compelled to leave her young daughter, Matilde, with her friend Juliette, when she is forced to go into hiding to escape the Nazis looking for her and her husband, a well-known artist who was part of the Resistance. After the war, Elise returns to Paris to find that her daughter was killed in a bombing that destroyed bookshop where Juliette and her family lived. She is an artist, a wood carver, and soon begins to earn a living with her art and the help of her husband's former art dealer.

The rest of the book is about coping with loss and learning to adapt to life after World War II. It is told over the course of twenty years and follows the lives of Juliette and her daughter, Lucy, now living in New York, and Elise, who remains in Paris. Like many other books written by Kristen Harmel, there is good attention to detail, historical accuracy, and an interesting plot that will keep you reading.

I must admit, I did not like the ending, but I will not spoil it for others.

A beautifully written and emotionally powerful story set in WWII-era Paris. It offers a unique narrative of enduring friendship, heartbreaking loss, and the resilience of women during wartime. The addition of an artist's journey and the mystery surrounding stolen art adds a compelling layer to the story. I also loved the Paris setting, though a frightening time in history.

A favorite quote: "I've always believed that
books are simply dreams on paper, taking us where we most need to go." -- Kristin Harmel

Absolutely adored this book. It’s historical fiction but the events that transpire could easily have happened. The author has you wondering what will happen the whole way through.

In all honestly I loved this book until the very end. But I had this guy feeling that Lucie was Mathilde and I just kept thinking that can't be right because it would ruin the book. As it got closer to the end I kept hoping that she would not make one last twist, but she did. Ugh!!! For me it just didn't work. Ruth and her kids didn't recognize her? She went along with it even as her mom was terrible to her? It just did not work and ruined a book that had been wonderful up to that point and would have worked without that twist!!