The Paris Daughter

Content warnings: war, bombing, murder, plane crash, loss of a spouse, loss of children, extreme gaslighting, mental illness, betrayal, theft, concentration camps, kidnapping

Elise and Juliette are two American women in Paris who face their fears during WWII.

Elise LeClair is an American woodcarver living with her French painter husband in Paris. One chance morning, a pregnant Elise meets Juliette Foulon. Juliette is also an American and is also pregnant at the time. Juliette takes Elise to her family's bookstore nearby, and a friendship develops between the two women.

World War II breaks out and the two women and their German Jewish friend Ruth must make impossible decisions to keep themselves and their children safe from the Nazis.

Kristin Harmel followed the extraordinary The Book of Lost Names with a more lackluster The Forest of Vanishing Stars, but she has triumphantly returned with this novel.

Recommended for readers of historical women's fiction and WWII fiction.

Kristin Harmel is a former sportswriter, magazine journalist, and TV reporter who has written several bestselling novels. She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in journalism and lives in Orlando.

Publisher: Gallery Books (print); Simon & Schuster Audio

Narrator: Madeleine Maby

Running Time: 12 hours, 7 minutes

Length: 380 pages

Release Date: June 6, 2023

Representation: expats, women with careers in the early 1900s, German Jews during WWII

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.