I read this right after reading The Nightingale. And while there were many similarities--Daughters of Paris does, indeed, stand on its own.

The story of two childhood best friends, this story started off pulling at my heartstrings. I could already see how difficult it would be for Fleur and Colette to maintain their friendship with such a disparity in circumstances. 

Fleur is the niece of Colette's family's domestic help. Which means Fleur is kind of the hired help. And when they're children this makes no difference to either of the girls. It isn't until they grow and make different friends that things get more complicated. 

There are a variety of circumstances that rip the girls apart and drive them away from their friendship. It isn't until their country, France, is taken over by the Germans when that gap starts to be bridged between them.

They each deal with the occupation in their own way. Granted, Fleur, with not as many privileges as Colette, quickly finds herself in the company of fellow French who wish to drive away the Germans at all costs. It isn't until later that Colette also finds her own way of helping.

This story was one of friendship, love, and what each person must do in grave times to survive and also to stand up for what they believe in. Even at the detriment of self. 

I really loved the way Hobbes weaved this story. The historical background just added to the story and brought me really into the world of Colette and Fleur.

Two young girls, Colette and Fleur, grow up together in 1930s Paris. As the Nazis approach, their friendship is tested by their different outlooks towards the war. A well written historical novel, exploring the bonds of friendship and the extremes they both must experience and survive in a changing world.

Any fan of historical fiction, or of a ripping good read will be beguiled by this book. Exquisite writing. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

DAUGHTERS OF PARIS is a story of friendship between two girls of different classes at a difficult time - the German occupation of France during WWII.

Colette is the socialite - not expected to do anything but marry into money and be beautiful. Fleur is the niece of the housekeeper. Their lives change as they grow up and apart, with Colette leaving for a sojourn to England. By the time she returns to Paris, they have changed in so many ways, that their friendship seems to be a thing of the past. But then Paris is declared an open city with curfews, ration books, and checkpoints. Being so different, how will the two of them cope?

I was thoroughly immersed in their story. If you read it as a war story then I think you may be slightly disappointed as the conditions and atrocities of war aren't mentioned in much detail. There is always an edge to the writing though, giving the impression of nerves and danger around every corner. What this story is, is about friendship in adversity. It's about standing up for what you think is right, even if it could be - and is - dangerous. It's about realising the world is filled with grey, not just black and white.

I was left with questions at the end - what happened to Josette? Michal? Monsieur Ramper? I really wish I had found out, but then I guess I'm in the same position so many were by the end of the war - not knowing where people were or if they were still alive.

A story of friendship first and foremost, with different threads of love woven through it. This was a story I lost myself in and thoroughly enjoyed every word. Highly recommended by me.

Collette Nadon is the daughter of well-to-do parents. Her father, Louis, pampers her but her mother, Delphine, is distant and selfish, seems to drink a lot and only wants Collette to make a good marriage. Fleur is an orphan being raised by the Nadon's housekeeper. As children Collette and Fleur are close but as they get older Collette becomes more of a party girl and Fleur is more serious, wants to get an education and travel the world. Then the war starts and the Germans are in Paris. It doesn't seem like their lives change very much. Collette hangs out at a hotel with her friends, Sophie and Josette. All she wants to do is dance and she doesn't care if she is dancing with Germans. I found Collette to have a good heart and even though she hid a Jewish person in their "secret garden" I don't think she really understood the danger she put everyone in and is actually very shallow. Fleur takes over the bookstore she worked in and starts working with the resistance but still made sacrifices to her happiness for Collette.

Overall I liked the book, it was easy to read but I don't think the horrors of Paris during the war are really depicted. They mentioned having to stand in long lines for food but they never really seemed hungry. There wasn't a fear of the German soldiers, most of the time they seemed darned amiable. What Fleur did in the resistance was dangerous but you couldn't tell that from this book. When she had a mission she just said she was going to work and it was never said what her actual purpose was. The most exciting part for me was the romance between Fleur and Laurent.

Then the ending was a big turnaround for Delphine and then we jump to June of 1944, then to August of 1945 and then 1994. There were so many questions I felt were unanswered like what happened to the books in the garden? Why didn't they ever go get the strawberries out of there and eat them?

I would probably recommend this book but as far as historical fiction of Paris during the war I found it lacking. If you read it as a book about a friendship it makes more sense.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins UK One More Chapter for providing me with a copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it follows friends Fleur the housekeepers niece & Collette the daughter of the house from childhood into adulthood as the War begins and Paris falls to the Nazis.

This is a story of friendship, love, strength and resilience… What I enjoyed the most was Fleurs journey, I struggled to warm to Collette even as the story unfolded I wasn’t really moved by her. But Fleur, what a woman!!

Although this fiction it is based on real events and that just hammers home the enormity of the story in hand.

Thank you to One More Chapter and NetGalley for the opportunity to receive. Digital ARC in return for an honest review.

“Life is going to get hard, Fleur. Not everyone is strong enough to bear that and war changes people. Some for the worst, and some for the better. I believe you are one of the strong ones.”

DAUGHTERS OF PARIS
Thank you, Elisabeth Hobbes, NetGalley, and HarperCollinsUk for the opportunity to read this book! It will release on August 5th, 2022.

I absolutely adored Elisabeth Hobbes’s previous novel, Daughter of the Sea. While I am really particular about World War II novels, I just had to pick up Daughters of Paris. This one begins before the German invasion of France with two girls, Colette and Fleur becoming best friends but are from two totally different backgrounds. Colette comes from a wealthy family, with a doting father but a disconnected mother. Fleur’s parents have passed away and now she lives with her aunt who is the housekeeper for Colette’s family. But then the war comes to France and their lives change. Colette and Fleur have grown apart but now they have to band together to survive. It turns out that they have it easier than others. Fleur is not willing to go down without a fight and joins the Resistance, but it means that their lives will be filled with danger.

So in terms of World War II novels, it isn’t the best. This book fell prey to romancing the war. However, I did absolutely love the aspects of friendship and courage. At first, I could not stand Colette and pretty much all of the characters except for Fleur. But the one thing that Elisabeth Hobbes does so well is character development. I won’t lie, Colette and Sebastian’s relationship didn’t affect me. However, I was so invested in Laurent and Fleur’s relationship. They were both so dedicated to helping others and France. That came first and they made smart decisions, unlike Colette and Sebastian. But she can definitely write a scene. I could picture myself in Paris. I was completely immersed and felt every emotion.

I can’t lie the Resistance movement within Paris is what interested me the most. I plan to look more into it as I studied Jewish Forest Camps in college. To make a difference, all it takes is one person. Like this book, every person is a link in a chain.

Moving from 1930 to 1945, this is a story of an unlikely pair of women who bond to fight the Nazis in Paris in innumerable small ways. Collette and Fleur may have been raised in the same house but they were raised with very different values and expectations. Collette is the spoiled rich girl whose parents expect her to marry well and live the life they've lived. Fleur is the orphaned niece of their housekeeper who works even at a young age. The war, however brings them together in resistance. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's atmospheric and the women sympathetic. For fans of the WWII genre.

My grandma also made promises to childhood friends and then experienced the devastation of WWII having grown up in Europe. This book cracked me wide open - beautifully and emotionally well written.

It was OK and would give it 2.5 stars. I absolutely LOVED Daughter of the Sea, so I was excited to read this, unfortunately I just couldn't get into the story. I didn't love any of the characters and had a hard time connecting to any of them. Fleur was so judgmental toward Colette throughout the whole book. Fleur might not have been has privileged as Colette but she definitely benefitted from living with the Nadons. I felt like the book was missing something. Colette and Fleur didn't seem scared about anything they were doing. A lot of what was happening in Paris seemed glossed over. Fleur and Colette were always able to get whatever they needed. Colette's parents even got her a baby crib. I'm pretty sure Laurent would have never confided his secret with Fleur. I just didn't care for the relationship between Fleur and Colette.

Give the book a try, it just wasn't for me. I didn't hate the book, just found it lacking in certain areas. It was sort of a watered down historical fiction book that centered around the relationship of two woman and not what was going on during the war. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Daughters of Paris follows two women who grow up in the same house. One is considered rich and the other is the relative of the housekeeper.
I liked the historical aspect of this story. The relationship between the two main characters wasn’t one I overly liked.
Definitely a book you should pick up and read if you are a fan of historical fiction.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions and thoughts expressed are my own.

This was a lovely WWII historical fiction novel that focused on the relationships between the female characters, which I appreciated. And there is romance, of course, because what is a wartime novel set in Paris without a bit of romance?

I'd say that this particular story is more character-driven than plot-driven, as it revolves more around the interactions of the characters and less around the actual details of their wartime efforts. There is a glimpse into Fleur's efforts with the Resistance, and a few into Collette's charitable actions to help her friends, but these don't comprise the bulk of the narrative. It is less about the war and more about the ties that bind, including the romantic entanglements of the two girls. It's not quite what I expected, but if you go into it knowing that it is a historical romance, I don't think you'll be disappointed at all.

Thank you to Elisabeth Hobbes, HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

This story was not a winner for me. There was very little to like about most of the characters, and I found it very hard to finish the book.

The primary relationship between childhood friends Fleur and Collette was unbalanced when they were children since Fleur was the niece of the housekeeper, while Colette was the daughter of the homeowners. But it became painfully moreso as Colette grew up to be a self-centered, inconsiderate woman. And Fleur was her codependent partner, always making excuses for Colette and putting Colette's happiness before her own.

While it was good to see Colette mature in the latter half of the book, it was still often at the expense of Fleur's happiness. And Fleur just kept enabling her!

I do appreciate the opportunity Elisabeth Hobbes, One More Chapter and NetGalley provided by offering me an advance review copy.

I really enjoyed this story of loyalty ,love ,bravery and true friendship.Fleur and Colette have different lives ,Colette lives with her wealthy parents and Fleur's Aunt is their husekeeper and so Fleur grows up with Collette and they become firm friends until Collette is sent to England and they lose touch .Then the Germans invade France ,Collete is back in France and they rekindle their friendship.It was interesting to discover more about the French Resistance .A very thought provoking read .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would as I'm not into history. The characters were well drawn out. Does having money make you happy, Will friendship overcome the hidden secrets of war?
Thoroughly enjoyed.

It's been a while since I cried at a book! Daughters of Paris follows a high society girl, Colette, and her housekeepers niece, Fleur from a young age through the trials and tribulations that occurred as a result of WW2.

As young girls sharing secrets, thoughts, and friendships they become 'Secret Sisters', until Colette became of age and started spending time with other girls like herself, and also attending parties in her mothers, Delphine, salon. On the off chance that Fleur was allowed to attend such a party, Colette betrayed their 'Secret Sisters' bond by taking a young man, Gunther, to their secret garden which they discovered when they were younger.

Not long after this, Colette is sent to England - for reasons we find out later (pregnancy). As war starts to rear its ugly head, Colette's parents request Colette to journey back to Paris. As both Fleur and Colette start to reconnect, the war starts becoming more real to the both of them. On the first night that Paris was bombed, Agnes, Fleur's aunt and housekeeper to Colette's family, sadly takes her own life.

This was an especially important point in the book for me, as Fleur was starting to make decisions about her life which would have been quite bold, such as becoming the owner of the bookshop where she used to work a couple of days a week, becoming part of the Resistance, then also the heartbreak of falling in love with someone who doesn't love her back. All of this was being kept a secret from Colette. But Colette had many secrets of her own. As the book moves on, we follow how Colette and Fleur face decisions of whether to do what was right, or something that could end up having them killed.

As much as I despised Colette in the beginning and found her to be a frightfully, awful rich girl, she turned out to be such as endearing character, that brought out so much overall from Fleur and other characters too.

The epilogue was bittersweet as it showed life way after the war, and highlighted the sacrifices and journey they have both been through since childhood.

Collette and Fleur are best friends growing up together. Life separates them and then the war starts. Fleur starts doing her part in the fight against the Germans. Collette finds love where she least expects it.
It’s a nice love story set against the backdrop of the war.
It’s nice to see the girls grow and find their way in life.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

Two young women grow up as France changes

This is a novel about two girls from different social classes growing up together in a time when the French middle classes were still trying to get back to the world they knew before the Great War and many of the social and political changes which took place in Britain and the United States in the twenties and thirties (especially votes for women) simply did not happen. But the author gets it right, rather than right-on, and the characters see things as young women of the the time might have seen them -and this changes throughout the story -and France changes with the young women.

The failure of French government and army in 1940 destroys that world and all hope (or danger) of it ever coming back, and the German occupation of Paris brings the two young women, who had been drifting apart, back together and steadily destroys the social and economic distinctions between them. We see the women coping with the occupiers (surrendered soldiers were sent at once to do forced labour in Germany, followed later by nearly all the young men who had not been soldiers) and the resistance eventually depends on brave young women when brave young men cannot be seen to walk the streets.

This is all well-described, and although the author doesn’t beat the reader over her head with her research she does get a lot of details pleasingly right: a single Lysander flying over a drop-point as if by chance and releasing a single supply cannister rather than drawing attention to any particular spot by landing on a field at night (which needed all sorts of extra skills and preparation) is exactly right for a supply drop to the French Resistance in the early days when everything had to be kept as simple as possible. As an Army Cooperation machine, dropping supply cannisters was designed into the Lysander from the start and was even used to sustain rearguard troops during the battle of France in 1940. The author also shows us that brave young French women were always likely to regard the cannister’s parachute as a resource to equal the cannister’s contents.

The other historically-accurate detail is that the greatest danger to all citizens in Occupied France, whether they were resistance workers or just young mothers desperate to find food for their children, was a denunciation to the Police or Gestapo born completely out of spite over some entirely petty confrontation or vendetta. (There actually was an internal Gestapo memo in 1942 which complained that most of the people they were arresting were completely innocent and had been denounced either for revenge or for rewards.)

This is a pleasing book which gets its messages across in the right sort of way.

Have you ever had a secret sister? A BFF that lived as much at your place as her own home?

Colette Nadon and Fleur Bonnivard are ‘soeurs secrètes’ because, although they’re bookends of Parisienne society, they grew up together in the same house. Fleur’s guardian, Tante Agnes, is the Nadon family’s housekeeper.

The author sets the scene with such vivid detail and wonderful characters that I was immediately pulled into the story. I identified more with Fleur and felt like I was Colette’s BFF as I read. I watched as the girls grew up and society’s ideals forced them to part ways. The author’s journey of female friendship and support was incredible. As the girls matured and war broke out, the story took a different tone and segwayed into an exploration of the differing attitudes of French women living under German rule. I read about some who enthusiastically resisted, some who actively collaborated and many who attempted to maintain a path of neutrality between the two extremes in an effort to survive.

How would you fare if you lived in Paris between 1944 - 2012?

❗ Women didn’t get the right to vote until the summer of 1944
❗ Women weren’t allowed to work outside the home without their husband’s consent until 1965
❗ Wearing pants/trousers was technically illegal until 2012

What I learned was that with the men gone to fight war, the new independence and opportunities were a heavy load on the women. I was shocked to discover that some “would rather face their end on their own terms than wait for it to trap them unawares.” I saw many similarities between the attitudes portrayed in this story and attitudes we’ve seen develop since the pandemic.

You’ll have to read this character-focused in depth examination of Parisienne wartime society and see how it affected the sisterly bond between the girls.

I was gifted this advance copy by Elisabeth Hobbes, Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Two girls grow up in the same house, one the niece of the housekeeper, the other the daughter of the house. Surprisingly, they were best friends, but then the war got in the way. It sounded like an appealing story and started out that way, but soon there was a disconnect. This is more about their relationship than life in an occupied country. While Fleur, the housekeeper’s niece, remained interesting, Colette’s choices and lifestyle made me lose interest.