Today’s book review features
The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron.
Book Blurb
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 Hôtel Ritz—the heart of the Nazis’ Parisian headquarters. But when dashing René 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 Führer’s Berlin, masterpieces stolen from prominent Jewish families. But behind closed doors, she secretly forages for information from the underground resistance. Beneath her compliant façade 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.
From Goodreads
Author Information
Discover more about Kristy Cambron at kristycambron.com.
Danielle’s Review
The Paris Dressmaker has been sitting on my Kindle for awhile and I finally got a chance to read it.
This WWII story was both engaging and … confusing. I loved Lila de Laurent and René Touliard. Once I realized their story was split between present and past, I found myself focusing more on the present scenes. I struggled with Sandrine Paquet and didn’t find her story as captivating. I might have followed better if the story was more linear than jumping around.
Overall, I think I wasn’t the reader for this story. It was fascinating history and well written, the style just wasn’t for me.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC guidelines.
Retail Links
Amazon | BN.com | Indiebound
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