MY THOUGHTS:
Paris, 1944: Louise Basset is a housemaid at the Ritz Hotel in France. The guests of the Ritz are among the most high ranking and most powerful Nazis in France. Louise always has an ear on the conversations going on around her. She would then inform Frank of everything she hears. Frank would then pass the information on to the Resistance. The Germans were always looking for members of the Resistance, but Louise was hiding in plain sight. Meanwhile, Pilot Kit Harrington and his brother Charlie were flying their bomber over Paris when they were shot down. They feared what would happen to them if they were captured by the Germans. They separated from each other, and they didn’t know if the other was captured or rescued. Present day, Louise’s granddaughter Nicole Beaumont, is in the Ritz hotel her grandmother worked in. Nicole receives an old photo from her aunt. In the photograph is her grandmother, Louise when she was a young woman. Nicole decides she must uncover the truth about her grandmother’s story, but will she be proud of the family secrets she discovers or will she be ashamed?
This was a phenomenal story of heartbreak, courage and inspiration. I am in awe of the things people experienced during the World Wars. They would stop at nothing to get whatever they needed to help the Resistance. This unputdownable book was so heartbreaking I couldn’t stop crying. This resonated through to my very core. What a beautifully written and researched historical fiction. This one is sure to stay with me for a very long time. Thank you Ella Carey for such a gripping and wonderful story…I loved it and I definitely recommend it!!
DESCRIPTION:
Author: Ella Carey
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: April 6, 2023
Pages: 334
Buy on Amazon
Paris, 1944. “Traitor!” yells the crowd as they push me down onto a stool. “Nazi collaborator.” Tears blur my vision as the razor grazes my scalp, waves of blonde hair falling to the ground. As men paint a swastika across my face, I hold onto one small glimmer of hope. They have no idea who I am.
Louise Basset works as a housemaid at The Ritz Hotel, home to the most powerful Nazis in France. As she changes silk sheets and scrubs sumptuous marble bathtubs, she listens and watches, reporting all she can to the Resistance. The only secret she never tells is her own.
Everything changes for Louise on the day a young Allied pilot, hunted by the Nazis, is smuggled into the hotel. As he and Louise share a small carafe of red wine hidden amongst her cleaning bottles, she feels her heart begin to open. But if Louise trusts someone with the truth, what will happen?
Years later, her granddaughter Nicole looks up at the ornate façade of the infamous Paris hotel. She is reeling from her recent discovery: a black-and-white photograph of her grandmother as a young woman, head shaved, branded a traitor. Devastated by her new legacy and about to start a family of her own, Nicole searches for answers.
When a French historian calls Louise by a different name, Nicole realizes there must be more to her grandmother’s story. Was the woman who taught Nicole so much about family and loyalty a resistance fighter, or will her granddaughter have to live with the knowledge that she is descended from a traitor? And will Nicole be able to finally move forward with her life if she can uncover the truth?
ABOUT ELLA CAREY
Ella Carey is the international bestselling author of The Things We Don’t Say, Secret Shores, From a Paris Balcony, The House by the Lake, and Paris Time Capsule. Her books have been published in over fourteen languages, in twelve countries, and have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. A Francophile who has long been fascinated by secret histories set in Europe’s entrancing past, Ella has degrees in music, nineteenth-century women’s fiction, and modern European history. She lives in Melbourne with her two children and two Italian greyhounds who are constantly mistaken for whippets. Ella loves to connect with her readers regularly through her facebook page and on her website.
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