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Book Summary and Reviews of The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel

The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel

The Paris Daughter

by Kristin Harmel

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  • Jun 2023, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the bestselling author of the "heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism" (People) The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation.

Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.

When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette's own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette's Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette's world is destroyed along with it.

More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend's bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise's desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.

An "exquisite and gut-wrenching novel" (Lisa Barr, New York Times bestselling author) you won't soon forget, The Paris Daughter is also a sweeping celebration of resilience, motherhood, and love.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. Both Juliette and Elise are transplants who followed love and passion to end up in Paris. How has their love of the city and of their spouses changed over the years? What are the things, big and small, that have allowed them to make a home there?
  2. A woman's place in the home and at work plays a significant role in both Elise's and Juliette's relationships with their husbands. While Juliette and Paul have a partnership running their bookstore, Elise feels stifled by her husband and his career. In what ways does Elise struggle against the boundaries society has placed on her?
  3. Both Elise and Juliette are pregnant at the same time. While Elise hopes "the baby would change everything" (page 5) and notes that the pregnancy wasn...
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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Harmel brings the novel's historical moments to life through deep research and enriching historical facts, and she conveys an acute sense of her characters' emotions as they face tragedy upon tragedy. This is Harmel's best to date." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A gorgeous, gut-wrenching read!" —New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn

"Brilliantly crafted and heart-shatteringly beautiful, The Paris Daughter is one of the best historical novels I have ever read....This is a timeless book of survival, strength, courage, a forever lasting song calling for peace." —Nguyen Phan Que Mai, internationally best-selling author of The Mountains Sing and Dust Child

"The Paris Daughter is a heartrending, uplifting novel. It is a poignant portrait of how we assign guilt even in the most blameless of circumstances, and a powerful reminder of the importance of moving on from the past before we become trapped there." —Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library

"Kristin Harmel is one of my must-read authors, and I loved The Paris Daughter....Harmel exemplifies the best in historical fiction; a story that brings history to vivid life, and one that enlightens as well as moves the reader." —New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline

This information about The Paris Daughter was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

BookwormBecky

Stunning!
Rubble, destiny, rewrite…

Two mothers-to-be , Juliette and Elise meet in the park one day. Both their lives will change forever.

Juliette and her husband Paul own a Parisian bookstore. Elise’s husband Olivier, is an artist who is the toast of the town. Elise is a wannabe artist in a tense marriage because of her husband’s political leanings.

Wartime Paris and it becomes “too late to turn back, too late to leave, and too late for Olivier to change his fate.” To avoid arrest (guilty by association), Elise entrusts her daughter, now 3yo, with Juliette. More than a year later, when Elise returns, she finds the bombed out remains of the bookshop. Where is Elise’s daughter, Juliette, and Juliette’s family?

An amazing story!

Loved the three main female characters. Strong, memorable women that made difficult decisions

A story of misery but also an inspiring story! Incredible sacrifices.

Emotional story of mother / daughter bonds.

Well researched . Don’t skip the author’s note!

I liked the quote “We all have choices over the way our story ends.”

I don’t remember which Harmel book I read first. But I have bought, read, and enjoyed all of her books since then!

Highly recommend! Thank you for a great read!

Elizabeth @Silver's Reviews

Elizabeth @Silver's Reviews - FANTASTIC as always
FANTASTIC as always!!

Friends, mothers, choices.

Everyone had to make difficult choices during the war, but a mother's choice to leave her children in the care of someone else was necessary and heartbreaking.

We meet Elise and Juliette who became fast friends and friends who would do anything for each other.

Juliette agreed to keep Elise's daughter Mathilde so Elise could safely escape being arrested since her husband was tortured and killed by the Nazis because he was in the resistance.

Both women suffered terrible losses as many did.

We follow both women through the war and after.

Ms. Harmel has given us another beautifully written, marvelously researched but heartbreaking book with wonderful characters and a book about choices, motherhood, and healing.

You won’t want to put the book down or want the book to end.

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Jill

War and the After Effects
I listened to this audiobook and the narration read by, Madeleine Maby, was good. I enjoyed, The Paris Daughter, and I like Kristin Harmel’s other book, The Book of Lost Names.

The story begins in Paris 1939 and two mothers meet and become fast friends. Soon after, the German occupation arrives in Paris and Elise, must leave Paris because she becomes a target. She leaves her daughter with, Juliette, to be safe.

This touches on the war itself, but more of a story of the after effects of what war does to people, families, communities, etc.
Two broken women; one that is stuck in the past and another drowning in regret and trying to find peace.

The story spans decades and we get to know more of the characters lives and personalities during this time. Then the story moves to New York where these two mothers meet up again.

Make sure to read the author’s note at the end.

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Author Information

Kristin Harmel Author Biography

Photo: Phil Art Studio, Reims, France

Kristin grew up in Peabody, Mass.; Worthington, Ohio; and St. Petersburg, Fla., and she graduated with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida. After spending time living in Paris, she now lives in Orlando, Fla., with her husband and young son.

Kristin Harmel is the international bestselling author of The Room on Rue Amélie and The Sweetness of Forgetting, along with several other novels. Her work has been featured in People, Woman's Day, Men's Health, Runner's World, and Ladies' Home Journal, among many other media outlets.

Author Interview
Link to Kristin Harmel's Website

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