Another take on women in Paris during WWII that will appeal to fans of historical fiction where real women play a role. In this case, Gabriel has merged the stories of Olivia, who is working with the Resistance, with Leonie Bathiat aka "Arletty", a sympathizer and well, Coco Chanel, who has somehow managed to escape from her collusion. Look at them as women and this is a better read than if you think about the politics and ethics. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This was different take on a period of history that I am really interested in. The three different perspective approach worked well as we see how they intertwined with each other. That said it was a little slow for me.

A book full of twist, turns and unpredictablity . It is set in WW2.
An ok read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

This is a powerful story about love, WW2, this book depicts women’s struggle during the war. This book taught me facts about the war that I didn’t know.

Overall this book was a good read. It left me breathless at times

In the end, this book left me breathless and aching.  This is a powerful story about love, World War II, and just what it means to do your duty.  With a mixture of fictional characters and real, Gabriel depicts women's struggles during this war.  The story revolves around Olivia Olsen, an asset to the Resistance, Arletty, a Nazi sympathizer, and Coco Chanel, a Nazi.  

One thing that I really appreciated about this book is that it took women's struggles seriously, regardless of their political affairs.  There's pregnancy, abortion, miscarriages, double standards, threats, and the inevitable being told to "smile."  Each woman made their decision, and they stood by it until the end, even if they didn't necessarily like the consequences.  

Though at times this book seemed strangely catered to the male gaze (warning--there's a failed lesbian rape scene in the later half of this book), it overall did a good job resisting that notion and critiquing the positions women were put into when Nazi men were making the rules.  To smile is to survive, to lie about your identity is to survive, to continue working at a hotel that now serves the enemy in order to be able to eat is to survive.  

One other thing that I really enjoyed about this book is the notion of female solidarity.  When Olivia, Coco, and Arletty had scenes together, there was an unspoken sense of trust between them.  They helped each other get abortions, allowed for one moment for a facade to drop.  Regardless of their choices, they were still women, and as women, they needed to stick together.  

I also learned quite a bit about WWII--I'm not a very big history buff, but it was really fun to be able to learn about names and places and be able to look them up for reference and additional learning.  It helped me contextualize this story a little better.  Not only that, but it also helped me learn a lot more about French culture--which is saying something considering I lived in France.  But again, not knowing much about history, there's always so much to learn!

Overall, this book was an engaging ride, filled with intrigue, and at times, horror.  At times I wanted to sit back and appreciate the detail, and others, I needed to rush through to discover what would happen next.  Just wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

“The superior soul turns to beauty as a flower turns to light.”
Set in 1939, The Parisians begins with Olivia Olsen who grew up in Minnesota and moved to Paris to be a painter. Now she paints tourist’s portraits in order to make ends meet. She is working one day when she meets a man, a Parisian, who commissions her to paint his portrait. The man’s name is Fabrice Darnell, an anarchist essayist who has clearly given her the last of the money in his wallet in exchange for the pleasure of her company while she paints him. When he comes to pick up the finished painting he invites Olivia to dinner where she meets his mother, a housekeeper at the Ritz, who suggests that Olivia take a job there as a chambermaid. Soon Olivia has fallen in love with Fabrice and is working at the the hotel.

Olivia’s story intersects with the lives of people staying at the Ritz which include Coco Chanel; Duchess Antoinette d’Harcourt, a dilettante poet, and Arletty, an actress with whom she is having an affair; and then, after the start of the war, Hermann Goering and the highest ranking German officers. When Olivia becomes pregnant and Fabrice is arrested for printing a radical newspaper, things become dire indeed and Olivia comes to the realization that she has underestimated the seriousness of the situation. She has been entertaining a romantic illusion and now her eyes are wide open. Olivia joins the Resistance, passing high level information that she has procured at the Ritz to the Allies.

“Since the Occupation, Montmartre had been a ghost town at night, the silence only broken by the barking of dogs abandoned by owners who had fled Paris. The full moon tonight was making them howl incessantly. It sounded to Olivia like the lamenting of lost souls.”
The character descriptions in this book are lovely. One woman is described as having eyes that were “the washed-out green of a distant prairie.” The prose in this novel is exquisite and the research is impeccable. Small details like the ‘coffee’ made from burned acorns that the French drank after the German occupation of Paris lend authenticity to the story. 

The author’s note at the end of the book was extremely interesting. I knew, of course, that a few of the characters in the book were real people, but I had no idea that so many were. 

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

Grade: A/A-

If you're looking for an effortless read that juxtaposes the lifestyles of rich Nazi sympathizers and struggling Resistance workers in Paris during World War II, you'll enjoy this. It really made my commute zip along. If, however, you like your books with some depth and writing that rises above the workmanlike, this will disappoint. The characters never blossomed into three-dimensional. Their motivations seemed pat and superficial. For instance, did Arletty, one of the biggest French film stars of the time, really plunge so deeply in love with a Nazi officer that she didn't give more than a passing thought to how she was betraying her audience and her country? And there's a lovemaking scene that I think qualifies for the Bad Sex Writing Award. All that said, as escapism that introduces you to the role of the Paris Ritz (and the sumptuousness of the hotel itself) and the attitudes of French society types during the war, this will please.

Recently, I've become drawn to books about WWII, especially those books that focus on the women during the war. And this book did not disappoint! I was captivated by Olivia, Arletty, and Coco Chanel's varying points of view. Viewing the war from such different perspectives encouraged me to look at WWII through a different lens but still centered on how women were affected by the war and the Nazi invasion. The descriptions of the Ritz are rich, beautiful, and deep. I was hooked from the very first chapter. Marius Gabriel weaves a story you won't soon forget. GET THIS BOOK TODAY!