Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, March 26, 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary (From Goodreads):

Paris, 1940: He pressed the tattered book into her hands. ‘You must go to the café and ask at the counter for Pierre Duras. Tell him that I sent you. Tell him you’re there to save the people of France.’

Sliding the coded message in between the crisp pages of the hardback novel, bookstore owner Laurence slips out into the cold night to meet her resistance contact, pulling her woollen beret down further over her face. The silence of the night is suddenly shattered by an Allied plane rushing overhead, its tail aflame, heading down towards the forest. Her every nerve stands on end. She must try to rescue the pilot.

But straying from her mission isn’t part of the plan, and if she is discovered it won’t only be her life at risk…

America, years later: when Jeanne uncovers a dusty old box in her father’s garage, her world as she knows it is turned upside down. She has inherited a bookstore in a tiny French village just outside of Paris from a mysterious woman named Laurence.

Travelling to France to search for answers about the woman her father has kept a secret for years, Jeanne finds the store tucked away in a corner of the cobbled main square. Boarded up, it is in complete disrepair. Inside, she finds a tiny silver pendant hidden beneath the blackened, scorched floorboards.

As Jeanne pieces together Laurence’s incredible story, she discovers a woman whose bravery knew no bounds. But will the truth about who Laurence really is shatter Jeanne’s heart, or change her future?

Inspired by true events, an epic and emotional novel about one woman’s strength to survive in the most difficult circumstances and the power of love in the face of darkness. Fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and The Lost Girls of Paris will be completely gripped from the very first page.

My Review:

Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the copy of this book
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Read if you like: WW2 fiction, dual timelines, dual perspectives
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In this book, we follow Laurence, a young woman who owns a bookshop in German-occupied France during WW2. She tries to find small acts of resistance and defiance to get through life under German occupation. We also have Jeanne, who learns that her mother was French and she goes to France to find out what happened to her.
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I really liked this book and enjoyed how the author laid out and unravelled the story. Laurence was a strong protagonist and I liked how Jeanne was a woman in her fifties instead of our usual younger characters who are seeking answers to their identity. If you like WW2 fiction then you will enjoy this one!