Based on true accounts of how Parisiennes resisted the Nazi occupation in World War II-from fashion houses to the city streets-comes a story of two courageous women who risked everything to fight an evil they couldn't abide. Paris, 1939. Maison Chanel has closed, thrusting haute couture dressmaker Lila de Laurent out of the world of high fashion as Nazi soldiers invade the streets and the City of Lights slips into darkness. Lila's life is now a series of rations, brutal restrictions, and carefully controlled propaganda ...
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Based on true accounts of how Parisiennes resisted the Nazi occupation in World War II-from fashion houses to the city streets-comes a story of two courageous women who risked everything to fight an evil they couldn't abide. Paris, 1939. Maison Chanel has closed, thrusting haute couture dressmaker Lila de Laurent out of the world of high fashion as Nazi soldiers invade the streets and the City of Lights slips into darkness. Lila's life is now a series of rations, brutal restrictions, and carefully controlled propaganda while Paris is cut off from the rest of the world. Yet in hidden corners of the city, the faithful pledge to resist. Lila is drawn to La Resistance and is soon using her skills as a dressmaker to infiltrate the Nazi elite. She takes their measurements and designs masterpieces, all while collecting secrets in the glamorous H???tel Ritz-the heart of the Nazis' Parisian headquarters. But when dashing Ren??? Touliard suddenly reenters her world, Lila finds her heart tangled between determination to help save his Jewish family and bolstering the fight for liberation. Paris, 1943. Sandrine Paquet's job is to catalog the priceless works of art bound for the F???hrer's Berlin, masterpieces stolen from prominent Jewish families. But behind closed doors, she secretly forages for information from the underground resistance. Beneath her compliant fa???ade lies a woman bent on uncovering the fate of her missing husband . . . but at what cost? As Hitler's regime crumbles, Sandrine is drawn in deeper when she uncrates an exquisite blush Chanel gown concealing a cryptic message that may reveal the fate of a dressmaker who vanished from within the fashion elite. Told across the span of the Nazi occupation, The Paris Dressmaker highlights the brave women who used everything in their power to resist darkness and restore light to their world. Praise for The Paris Dressmaker: "Unimaginable heartache, unforgettable romance, and cheering defiance against the oppression the Nazis inflicted on Paris; readers will be swept away into a story where battle-scarred good at last rings victory over evil." -J'nell Ciesielski, author of The Socialite "Stunning. With as much skill and care as the title's namesake possesses, The Paris Dressmaker weaves together the stories of two heroines who boldly defy the darkness that descends on the City of Light." -Jocelyn Green, Christy Award-winning author of Shadows of the White City "With real life historical details woven in with her fictional tale, the story popped off the page. Readers will be thinking of this book long after they've read the last word." -Rachel Hauck, New York Times bestselling author Stand-alone World War II historical fiction Full-length novel, approximately 115,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs
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The Paris Dressmaker is extremely well researched, and evokes a broad range of emotions in its readers. As with Cambron's other books, it won't be soon forgotten, and will leave an imprint on readers' views of the past as well as the future. I used the text-to-speech feature on my Kindle for much of this book, and that did make the story's structure a bit of a challenge as it goes back and forth,not only between Lila and Sandrine's stories, but hops around within the time frame in which it takes place. It is totally worth navigating, and once both the primary and secondary characters are firmly established, it will require less attention.
I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of The Paris Dressmaker from Thomas Nelson via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.
