Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Kristin Harmel.

I will forever read anything that Kristin has written. She is a master with words and feelings. I thought that I had read enough stories about WWII but saw this one and had to read it. I finished it one sitting. So incredibly good. Friendship, found family, love. It's all there.

I enjoyed reading Kristin Harmel's latest historical fiction, The Paris Daughter, and will continually recommend her books to others. Filled with dramatic turns and German/Paris/American moments that Harmel writes best, I did not want to put this novel down. I instantly felt for Juliette and wanted to punch Elise automatically for her bad decisions on love. The Paris Daughter had a satisfying ending and left me aching for the next novel to come.

The Paris Daughter is an exceptional novel. Author Kristin Harmel tells the story of two women who meet in Paris in 1939. Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends and often spend time together with their children. Elise is a sculptor and her husband is a well known painter with Communist leanings. Juliette and her husband own a bookstore. As Word War II advances into France, Elise finds herself in a horrible predicament because of her husband's resistance work. Her best chance of survival is to disappear. To protect her daughter she leaves her with Juliette and promises to return for her. Juliette integrates Elise's daughter into her family seamlessly. Unfortunately no one is safe in a time of war. Harmel's characters are fascinating and endearing. This page turner has many twists and is one of the best books I've read this year.

What a stunning and heartbreaking novel about love and loss. It’s a testament to a mothers love what both Juliette, Elise and Ruth do for their children. Ms. Harmel has another brilliant novel on her hands.

If there's a Kristen Harmel novel that doesn't rip my heart to
bits, I haven't found it yet! The Paris Daughter is a painfully beautiful novel that sheds more light on the ripple affects of war.

Elise and Juliette meet in France while each is heavily pregnant with a daughter, and their fast friendship soon extends to their young girls. When sinister circumstances force Elise to flee, she entrusts Juliette with caring for her daughter. After the war ends, Elise returns to find Juliette's bookshop and home reduced to rubble, her daughter, friend, and family nowhere to be found. Only years later will they reunite in New York and bring long-kept secrets to light.

Gripping, propulsive, and emotional, this book wrecked my mama heart in a most pensively melancholy way. The characters are exquisitely formed, the prose skillfully crafted, and the story progresses at a great pace. I was able to predict the plot early on, but that did not stop me from enjoying watching it unfold on the page. I'm not sure how this was only my first Kristin Harmel. novel, but I look forward to savoring many more of her works in the future!

Thank you to Gallery Books via NetGalley for gifting me with an ARC to review. I adored it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the new historical fiction novel by Kristin Harmel - 5 stars!

Two mothers, two daughters. Elise and Juliette meet when they are both pregnant and become fast friends. Though their lives are very different - Elise and her husband and artists and Juliette and her husband own a small bookstore - Elise finds peace in the bookstore and their young daughters also become the best of friends. When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she does the only thing possible to save her daughter - she entrusts her to Juliette's care. When she is finally able to return a year later, she's devastated to learn that the bookstore was bombed and both their worlds were destroyed.

This book explored the horrible choices so many had to make in wartime and the consequences of those choices. It also explores friendship, loss, grief and the many different ways people process those feelings. This certainly takes place in wartime but it's less a war novel than it is an exploration of motherhood, sacrifice, mother/daughter relationships. I also loved how books and art played such an important part of this story and showed how both have healing powers. It's also a cautionary tale about how grief can ruin lives, yet it's such a hopeful book as well. This book was again wonderfully researched by Harmel and felt so real - be sure to read the author's note at the end. Fabulous read - highly recommended!

Is there a Kristin Harmel novel that we didn’t love?! She has truly done it again. I was consumed from page one. The relationships she creates and the emotions she evokes in her readers always blow me away. Her writing is so heartwarming and also heart-wrenching.

This novel exceeded my expectations and truly kept me glued until the end. Her plot twists are perfectly weaved throughout the book. She knows when and where to blow our mind!!!

This is another fantastic WWII historical fiction from Kristin Harmel. As always, her book was wonderfully researched and tugged at my heartstrings. The story of Juliette and Elise and the difficult decisions that had to be made during the war was emotional and moving. I loved that most of the story was set after the war in 1960 New York and Paris as the characters had to deal with the aftermath of the war and how to move on (or try to move on) with their lives. I also loved the cameo about the French town of Aurignon from Harmel's The Book of Lost Names!

Wow, what an incredible historical fiction book. Well researched, strong main characters, and a heartbreaking, incredible story. It follows 2 mothers, before,during and after WWII and their experiences. The worst of heartbreak, impossible decisions to make and their paths to grow and heal after the war. The characters were real, relatable, and incredibly well developed. The research put into this book was amazing - she was easily able to transport you to Paris during the war. Anyone that is a fan of Historical Fiction must read this book!

Elise and Juliette meet while pregnant in Paris before the war. When Elise and her daughter's lives are at risk, she entrusts Juliette to care for her young daughter. After the war ends, Elise learns that her daughter was killed when a bomb fell, but Juliette is nowhere to be found. After years of searching, she is led to New York where she hopes to get the answers she has been looking for.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel is a close look at mental illness and the lives that led up to it. The story takes place in Paris, before the Nazis invaded. It was a good life for young mothers, Elise and Juliette, who met in the park one day when Elise had false labor pains and Juliette took pity on her and took her home to be examined by a doctor. This was the beginning of a close friendship. Juliette and her husband, Paul, owned a bookshop and they and their two boys lived above it. Juliette was pregnant, as well. Elise lived with her artist husband, Olivier, who was increasingly distant as he became consumed in politics. He was a Communist, or at least existed at its fringes. Elise had been an artist, too, but Olivier had taken away much of her self-esteem. She worked in spurts, carving wood. Then after a plethora of bad things had happened, the worst happened and Olivier was arrested and died during the “interrogation.” Elise had to flee. She had to leave her daughter as the authorities would be looking for a woman and small child. She left Madeline with her friend Juliette. There were Allied bombers looking for the Renault factory which was nearby, but other things were hit, including the bookshop. Paul, the boys, and Madeline were killed. Only their daughter, Lucie, and Juliette survived.

When Elise returned she discovered the truth, although by then Juliette and Lucie had fled to America. She lived in a fog for years, believing her apartment had been stripped of all its art by the Nazis. She was a poignant character, deep in depression, believing it was her fault her daughter was dead, since she had abandoned her. She was an excellent character, as was Juliette, who was sinking deeper into mental illness as the years went by, forcing her daughter, Lucie, to lie to her and try endless ways to reconnect with her mother. The plot was complicated and yet so simple. It was the story of people profoundly affected by the war. So much went wrong in Paris. This was just one story, but a truly amazing one. Harmel has done it again with this deeply touching book. Truly a perfect read.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Paris Daughter by Gallery Books, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #GalleryBooks #KristinHarmel #TheParisDaughter

A story about three families in Paris during WWII and how their lives interconnected at such a turbulent time. It focuses on what a parent would do to keep their child safe, even if it means separating from them in order to give them a better chance at survival. It's also about remembering and honoring the past without being stuck in it. Juliette's storyline was the most difficult to read just because of how deep she is in her grief and how much that affects all of the lives around her. Overall, an interesting story that delves into emotions and actions of wartime.

Double those stars. 10 stars! Incredible! Simply incredible! This has to be Kristin Harmel's best book to date. She has taken a WWII story, but made it about women--about mothers. It's about the love these women have for their children. Yes, it is also about how unfair and destructive the war was to those at that time, but the deep story is about the love the women have for their children and the degree to which they will go to to protect their children.

The relationships in this book are complex. The characters are flawed. The friendships are flawed, but displayed so well by Harmel. I literally did not want to put this book down...ever. This will be one of my favorites of the year.

Thanks to the author, Gallery Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

I thought this book started out on a good note, but just got worse about 25% in and it went downhill from there.

For a historical fiction novel centered around WWII, there wasn’t a lot of detail which I think is inexcusable given how easy it is to research WWII. Also, one of the characters (Juliette) is the biggest Karen ever, but becomes awful out of nowhere halfway through the book and it’s really surprising. Make it make sense.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC so I didn’t have to pay for this.

Kristin Harmel always writes a good realistic story of survival during WWII. This book is no different when Elise and Juliette become friends in 1939 France. Elise's husband is killed by the Germans for working with the resistance and she and her daughter are being hunted. In order to escape she leaves her young child with Juliette. Elise escapes and becomes active caring for children who have escaped the Germans. When the war ends she returns to find Juliette's home destroyed and her husband and children dead. The story moves to New York where Elise searches for Juliette and her family.

In The Paris Daughter Kristin Harmel once again portrays the hard choices that families had to make to survive during WWII. Harmel writes an emotionally draining and brilliantly intuitive rendition of the separation and loss of children from their parents caused by the German invasion of France. However, well beyond the end of the war, parents and children are still trying to fashion a life separate from their memories of the past. The Paris Daughter is a completely gut-wrenching and powerful historical novel. Once again Harmel has done her research and written a novel that is a must-read!
#thankyouNETGALLEYforthisARC! #Simplyblewmeaway!

Kristin Harmel is the queen of WWII Historical Fiction! I was immediately drawn into her story and each of her characters. I love that she perfectly depicts what war can do to a person who was genuinely kind beforehand.

Perfect for fans of "The Book of Lost Names" as it ties in the same places and a few of the same characters!

Kristin Harmel has created a special story that's a not just another WII novel. It’s uniquely beautiful and reminds us that grief, though deeply painful, does not have to be the end for us. There is a way to move through it. The support of friends and loved ones is vital. The Paris Daughter is a tribute to all the mothers out there who sacrifice for their children.

Synopsis: Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette are friends as war creeps across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change. However, 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.

The Paris Daughter takes the reader to Paris and New York City between 1939 and the early 1960s. Harmel introduces us to a handful of people whose lives are unimaginably changed. Elise LeClair decides to leave her daughter for the remainder of the war in the safe hands of her best friend Juliette. At the end of the war, she learns upon her return that the bookshop where the family of six had resided was accidentally bombed leaving behind ash, ruins, devastation, and only two living souls. The Paris Daughter is a powerful story of friendship and motherhood, the impact of loss, and the inhumanity of war.

I was in awe of all the mothers in this book. The choices they had to make just to keep their families safe made my heart ache for them. Whether they chose to leave the children, send them away, or keep them with them there was no guarantee that they would all be together at the end. A mother’s love is an amazing thing, and this was proven many times throughout this book. Through grief and madness, a mothers love is eternal.

I also want to mention the book infuses art into the storyline. It's interesting to learn about an artists world pre and post war along with what happened to art during the war along with how an artists mind copes with loss. This is an interesting component of The Paris Daughter.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for sharing a tale of two beautifully broken women and the impacts their choices have across decades.

A moving story about female friendship and the bravery and resilience of women during WWII. In this book budding artist Elsie befriends fellow pregnant Parisian, Juliette only to find herself in a situation where she has to ask Juliette to take in her daughter when she has to go on the run from the Germans.

Told over a number of years, we get to see how the war affected each woman differently with unique hardships and trials. The end was a bit predictable for me but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of this story or the brief cameos from some characters from The book of names.

Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This was also good on audio narrated by Madeleine Maby with a moving author's note at the end.

The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel is the best book I’ve read so far in 2023. Take the time to read this one!

This is a story about the love of mothers during an incredibly stressful situation. It’s WWII in Nazi occupied Paris. Elise, a sculptor, is an American married to a French painter. When his activism gets him killed, Elise and her daughter are in peril. To keep her daughter safe, she makes the difficult decision to leave her with her friend Juliette. Juliette and her husband, owners of a bookstore, have three children. One mother to another, Juliette promises Elise to love and protect the child until Elise can safely return. Unfortunately war is unpredictable. The story jumps to the 1960s where we see how people cope differently after the trauma of living through war.

My Take:
The Paris Daughter grabbed me right in chapter one and didn’t let go. I loved learning about sculpting and the art world through Elise. I sympathized with both Elise and Juliette’s situations. Don’t worry. I know it’s a war story, but it has a happy ending, although it is bittersweet. The Paris Daughter is one you don’t want to miss!

If you want to help authors the most, pre-order or purchase the first week the book is out. The Paris Daughter came out today, so you can get your copy at most book sellers including at bookshop.org, an on-line store that helps small mom and pop independent bookstores.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel.