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.
Holocaust, death.
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.
Don't just take our word for it...
“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
“The Paris Daughter stole – and broke – my historical-loving heart. Beautifully written and emotionally charged…. (it) is sure to delight (Harmel’s) many devoted fans, and captivate many more. Absolutely wonderful!”
_ Hazel Gaynor, NYT bestselling author of The Last Lifeboat
“A powerful exploration of the depths of a mother’s love and the impossible choices that must be made during times of war….Part mystery, part family saga, part homage to the artist’s soul, this book had me in tears and kept me riveted until the final page. It was unputdownable.”
– New York Times bestselling author Jill Santopolo
Taste the very first page
September 1939
The summer was lingering, but the air was crisp at the edges that morning, autumn already tapping at the door, as Elise LeClair hurried toward the western edge of Paris. She usually
loved the summer, wanted it to last forever, but this year was different, for in just four months the baby would be here, and every- thing would change. It had to, didn’t it? She cradled her belly as she slipped into the embrace of the shady Bois de Boulogne.
Overhead, chestnuts, oaks, and cedars arched into a canopy, gradually blotting out the sun as she took first one winding trail and then another, moving deeper into the park. The same sky stretched over all of Paris, but here, beneath it, Elise was simply herself, not a woman defined by her neighborhood, her station, her husband.
When she married Olivier four years earlier, she hadn’t realized that the longer she stood by his side, the more invisible she would become. They’d met in New York in early 1935, and…
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