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…
You might also like
Historical FictionLGBTQIA+Gothic FictionIncludes a DogHorror
Blood on Her Tongue
Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate.
Historical FictionLGBTQIA+Gothic FictionHorror
Hungerstone
A compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the queer novella that inspired Dracula.
Historical FictionDebut NovelMagical Realism
Junie
A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.
The Reformatory (2024 Members’ Choice)
A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.
Historical FictionDebut NovelLGBTQIA+Gothic Fiction
The Resurrectionist
A twisty gothic debut set when real-life serial killers Burke and Hare terrorized the streets of Edinburgh, as a young medical student is lured into the illicit underworld of body snatching.
Historical FictionDebut NovelIncludes a Dog
Eleanore of Avignon
The story of a healer who risks her life, her freedom, and everything she holds dear to protect her beloved city from the encroaching Black Death.
Historical FictionDebut NovelMagical Realism
Masquerade
Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.