While Paris Slept: A powerful novel of love, survival and the endurance of hope
by Ruth Druart
Publishing Date 4 Mar 2021
Description
On a platform in occupied Paris, a mother whispers goodbye.
It is the end.
But also the beginning.
‘What a book… Emotional and heartrending…absolutely phenomenal. I was on tenterhooks throughout. A wonderful achievement’ Jill Mansell
Beautiful. Powerful. Unforgettable. A stunning portrait of the brutality of war and the tenacity of love. In the tradition of Virginia Baily’s Early One Morning and M. L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans.
Paris 1944
A young woman’s future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope.
Santa Cruz 1953
Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi Occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door.
On a darkened platform, two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined…
Our Review
Spanning the years from 1944 to 1953, we follow Jean-Luc, a Frenchman, working on the railways during the German occupation of Paris.
Together with Charlotte, his wife, they manage to flee to America, believing that the horrors of the past, although never forgotten, could never be repeated.
There is another couple involved in this tale and their combined history makes a story so heart-breaking and vividly real.
Written with such intensity, While Paris Slept feels real and is an emotional and unforgettable story of the enduring strength of love in all its forms.
Atmospheric and at times terrifying, your emotions will be torn by the situation these innocent people find themselves in, and although it was sometimes painful to read, I will remember this heart-breaking story for some time…
Thanks go to Netgalley for allowing me to read this atmospheric story…
