Gifted storyteller Kate Eastham returns with a heart-wrenching historical novel readers will be completely mesmerized by: The Last Letter from Paris.

Paris, 1940 and in the depths of winter, Cora’s train is struck by Nazi bombs and as she is thrown off her seat, the carriage lurches off the tracks and the only thing on her mind is making it out alive and returning back to her family in America. Amidst all the chaos and destruction of this attack, Cora clutches her silver locket- the only clue that will lead her to her birth mother. Having come this far, Cora is not about to give up the fight, even if everything seems hopeless and desperate. She will not rest until she finds her beloved mother. However, Cora is unaware that this emotional journey will test her like never before as she finds herself forced to rely on the last person she had ever thought would help her out – Nazi soldier, Max Heller.

The German is nothing like Cora had imagined him to be. Max is kind, generous and willing to do whatever it takes to help in a city that has been completely and utterly torn apart by war and obliterated by greed and avarice. With Max helping her plot her escape from France, Cora knows that she should be cautious and not trust him. Yet, the more time she spends with him, the more she realises that she is falling head over heels in love with Max.

When a devastating secret comes to light, Cora is forced to confront a shocking reality about her birth mother. With Max the only one in her corner, what will Cora do? Will she go it alone and risk dying in Paris? Or will she trust Max implicitly? Is a future for the two of them possible? Or is their love simply not meant to be?

Kate Eastham’s The Last Letter from Paris is a wonderfully poignant, intensely emotional and highly dramatic historical novel that I found myself unable to put down. A superb tale of forbidden love, dangerous decisions and family ties, The Last Letter from Paris is a wholly engrossing page-turner that aims for the heart and holds readers in thrall from the first page until the final sentence.

Kate Eastham brings the past to life and sweeps readers off to wartime Paris with ease, flair and style and will have them completely and utterly consumed by Cora and Max’s story.

An unforgettable historical novel from a writer at the top of her storytelling powers, The Last Letter from Paris is another dazzling tale by Kate Eastham.

Written with so much love and dignity this book will have you reaching for the tissues. It's brave and courageous characters are not alone.

This was a good book. It was well written. This is the first book I've read by this author.

As the Nazi's invaid Paris during WW2, Cora finds herself, an American, stuck in Paris. When her Aunt disappears, Cora goes to live with an older friend of her Aunt, Francine. Cora is determined not to leave France until her aunt is found, and also finds herself aiding the resistance in the early days of the Nazi occupation of Paris.

Small spoilers for my review: While I do admire Cora's courage throughout all her troubles, some of the trouble she finds herself in during the war is due to her impulsive behavior. For example, prior to the Nazi invastion, Cora was urged by her aunt and her parents back in the United States to leave Paris, but she stayed because she was searching for her birth mother. And then she is stuck in France and many people have to help her try and get out of France and put their lives at risk.

Larger spoiler - a main theme of the story is she is looking for her birth mother. This part of of the story was a main driving force for everything Cora did, but it really wasn't resolved in my opinion. She kind of learned of a red haired woman in the town she thinks her mother is from, and thinks she was her mother, and this is a huge leap to make in my opinion, and her understanding of who her mother is based on this information really hurts Cora emotionally, but there is no reason to really think this red haired woman is her mother. This ending of the story just didn't seam resolved for me.

I really appreciated the character of Francine, the older lady Cora stays with when she has no where else to go. Francine is a strong woman despite all the hurt she has been through, with the death of her husband and what she went through in the first world war. I believe this character and others in the story are part of an earlier book by this author - I wish I had read that book first. But Francine was still a great character in this book.

I received this book from netgalley and glad I had a chance to read it.

A well done and action packed story of a woman trapped in Paris in WW2. While searching for her birth mother. The story is well told with a plot packed with adventure and suspense. The characters are well developed and you can find yourself immersed in caring what happeNING to them. A very good read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this one, it made me cry. It was such a wonderful story that I couldn’t stop reading. It had me gripped until the last page. I recommend this one. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This story is described as heart breaking and it is just that. But it is so well written you forgive that. Cora is such an easy character to care about and want to protect her. What she goes through and decisions she needs to make are perfect for fans of historical fiction.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley

📖 𝕖𝔸ℝℂ ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 📖

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
𝙏𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: 𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘮
𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚: 𝘞𝘞𝘐𝘐 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭
𝙋𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨: 313
𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
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*** Thank you to the author @kateastham and @bookouture @netgalley for giving me a change to read this book.***

__________💭𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜💭___________

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙇𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨 is a standalone historical fiction novel written by Kate Eastham. This was an amazing, and also at times hard to read, historical novel. This story is full of strong women who must persevere, but my favorite is Cora who was found and raised by Eva.

This book was full of power, courage, bravery, worry, strength and romance. Cora Mayhew, my fave character in this story, is trying to find her mother after being abandoned as a baby during WWI. She is now in Paris during WWII and she has to decide whether to stay and try to assist the resistance efforts or escape to safety back to America and her adopted family.

If you are a fan of historical novels and books about romance during war time and historical times, than this book will be perfect for you.

The Last Letter From Paris tells the story of Cora Mayhew, a First World War foundling who has been adopted by Evie (the nurse who found her) and her husband. All Cora knows about her birth mother was that they shared the same flame red hair, she was French and that she had left Cora with a distinctive necklace. Now an adult, Cora makes the journey from America to France in search of her mother but shortly after arriving the second world war breaks out and she ends up trapped in Nazi occupied France.
The story opens with the occupation of France by the Nazis. We get a fantastic exploration of Paris in the immediate aftermath of the occupation and I think having our protagonist being an American citizen added a really interesting aspect to the story.
One thing that Kate Eastham does do incredibly well in the book is her exploration of the complexities of adoption and also female experiences of miscarriage, stillbirth and infertility. I also really enjoyed the feature of strong female characters connected by shared challenging experiences, through Iris, Evie and Francine and the bond they built working as nurses on different ships.
I struggled with is the lack of closure in this book. We have a beautiful sequence of scenes where Cora finds a newborn baby in a bombed out house and takes on the care of the child, mirroring the scenes of her adoptive mother Evie finding her as a newborn. I really enjoyed this plot point as I felt it added a new dimension to the story, setting it apart from the typical ‘resistance member fleeing the Nazis’ storyline that has been done many times before in other historical fiction works. But unfortunately, this aspect of the plot didn’t last very long and we’re left with the knowledge that the baby is in France but never really hear about her again, which was disappointing to me.
During her escape, Cora meets German soldier Max Heller who offers to shelter her and the baby she has found and ultimately romance blossoms between them. Whilst I found the idea of Cora, a resistance member and American citizen on the run from the Nazis, falling for a German soldier to be really interesting, I did struggle with aspects of their romance. Ultimately, they spend only a matter of days together yet we’re meant to believe they’ve fallen madly in love. Their love felt incredibly superficial and I don’t think this was helped by the fact that their time together was squashed into merely a couple of pages, despite Max’s prominent feature in the blurb making us think he’s a key character.
I also struggled with the fact that the plot veered so far away from the focus on her finding her birth mother. The opening chapters and blurb of the story focus so significantly on the importance of finding Cora’s birth mother but this is quickly forgotten as the rest of the story plays out. The attention was so focused on Cora’s experiences at the hands of Hesser that we don’t hear much about her mother until a casual mention in the closing chapters in what felt like an afterthought attempt to close the storyline. The scenes where Cora has been imprisoned by Karl Hesser and is both drugged and physically assaulted were gripping but slightly fantastical as it seemed incredibly unlikely that the one officer who has a vengeance against Cora would happen to show up in the location she had fled to. Cora’s survival was ultimately completely down to the help of other people and this was a shame as earlier points had hinted towards some strong character development from the rather naïve young woman she was at the beginning of the book. It would have been less of an underwhelming ending had Cora escaped the hands of Hesser of her own accord.
Overall, The Last Letter From Paris is an easy-to-read novel which is well paced and definitely packed full of action, if you can by pass the fantastical elements and underwhelming lack of overall closure. I really wanted to love this book and felt it had such potential but it unfortunately missed the mark for me.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5
I have posted an extended review on my blog www.yourschloe.co.uk and the post is linked.

I really liked this book.. i liked the Main characters, their stubborness , their strength and their Quick minds. I felt like i was a part of the book, i could feel their pain, i could takepart in their friendships, i could cry with them, i could laugh with them. . The only part i did not like that much, was the ending. It felt too rushed. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion

Adopted by Americans working in France during WWI, Cora Mayhew had been abandoned by her French mother. Now at age 23, has come to Paris trying to find her mother. Cora is living with her Iris, her mother's close friend. The Nazi's have just occupied Paris and Cora's adoptive parents, Evie and Adam, are begging her to come home to safety in New York.
Thus begins "Last Letter from Paris" by Eastman. This action-packed story follows headstrong Cora as she not only attempts to evade the Nazi's but also to find Iris whom the Nazi's have arrested. Iris' dear friend Francine becomes Cora's guardian.

Eastman has masterfully developed Cora's character and those of Evie and Francine. The story setting is vivid due to ample use of literary devices. Describing Paris after the invasion, "It felt stifling, as if a heavy shadow were hanging over the whole city," (pg 43).

A fast moving story with themes of danger, fear, determination, and love, readers will enjoy this novel. My only disappointment was the abrupt ending.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I am so lucky to be part of Books on Tour! Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this opportunity to read and review this book. The Last Letter From Paris is by Kate Eastham. This is my first book by her, but it won’t be my last!
This story is told from three different perspectives.
Cora Mayhew was found orphaned and grew up in Montauk, Long Island. She goes to Paris to search for her birth mother. While there, she gets caught up in The Resistance.
Iris Becker is best friends with Cora’s mother. Cora is living with her in Paris until the Nazi’s overrun the city and Iris is thrown into jail.
Evie Mayhew is Cora’s adoptive mother. She works as a midwife and lives in Montauk with her husband.
Cora starts working as a spy but gets hurt on a mission. She is traveling to the coast when the train she is on gets hit by a bomb. Alone in a foreign country, she has to use her wits to survive. A German soldier, Max Heller, befriends her and this is when the story really gets interesting.
This story really makes you think about the true character of a person and how people aren’t just one way. Max is a Nazi- BAD, but he saved Cora - GOOD. This book really makes you think about life.
I was drawn in by the complex characters. I would like there to be a sequel because I still have a few more questions about the characters. Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

READ THIS BOOK IF YOU
Like historical fiction
Enjoy a strong female character

Let’s get to know each other better!

QOTD: Have you ever visited Montauk, Long Island?

My answer is in the comments.

Happy Reading!

#TheLastLetterfromParis #NetGalley #Bookouture #BooksOnTour #BookLove #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalFictionLove #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks

I really enjoyed this one. Mainly set in Paris during the first two years of WWII, the city has German occupation, but life isn’t yet as difficult as it will become in the later years. The swastika is flying above the Eiffel Tower and German soldiers are drinking in cafes and bars and moving themselves into apartments as though it’s their right.

Cora is an American girl who has recently travelled to Paris to try to find her birth mother and inevitably gets caught up in the midsts of the beginnings of the war. She willingly becomes involved with the resistance movement and we see more of their work as she tries to travel home to America.

I have read nothing before, which is solely set at the beginning of WWII, and it was enlightening to read something different. I loved discovering what small, but such important parts people had as a part of the resistance, as they tried to help others throughout war-torn years.

If you enjoy historical fiction and something set during the conflict, then give this a try. It’s full of intrigue, suspense and, of course, a spot of romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review a copy of The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham.

Cora Mayhew is trapped in Paris after she survives an attack on the train she is riding. As she is thrown from her seat she can’t help but wonder if she will make it out alive and will she see her family ever again? She loves her adoptive family but she wants to find her birth mother. She is carrying a letter that she must get mailed. Cora has many hurdles that she has overcome but none of them are more important than what lies ahead for her. She meets Max Heller, a German soldier and he helps her to find the best and safest way out of France. With so much at stake she must decide if she should continue her search for her birth mother or leave France forever and risk never seeing Max again.

I enjoyed The Last Letter From Paris by Kate Eastham very much. This heartbreaking story had me gripped from the very beginning. This World War II story is filled with courage, determination and resilience. It is one that will stay with me for a very long time. Kate Eastham does an exceptional job of pulling the reader into the story and making them feel like they are living in the very moment. I found this book to be unputdownable and I highly recommend it.

Cora is searching for information about her mother. The woman who abandoned her. But soon it is Max, a German soldier, who finds her; but can she trust him?

This novel was captivating from the first page. I loved this narrative and could not put this down. Eastham's writing style is easy to follow and flows nicely, with strong female characters throughout. My favourite character was Cora, the decisions she had to make are what I found moving throughout this novel, but she shows incredible strength and passion.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre to read. There is so much to learn from it, even the fictional stories contain some true facts and happenings.
The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham is a wonderful book that I read in several hours.
A young American woman is in France, June 1940 living with her mother's best friend for the sole purpose of finding out information about her birth. All she knows is she was found with a locket. It is her only clue. A capture turns the plot of the story into one filled with danger and intrigue. It is hard to put this one down.
The story is filled with strong women who must persevere, but my favorite is Cora who was found by and was raised by Eva.
As Cora is searching for her beginnings, she is befriended by German soldier Max but with a war going on can she trust him and can she trust herself with her growing feelings for him.
The Germans have invaded, and she helps with the resistance which throws her right into danger.
Full of power, courage, bravery, worry, strength and romance.
I enjoyed the author's writing style and well-developed characters. I will be looking for more by this author.

Pub Date 07 Feb 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was exceptional.

I love historical fiction books and this one was one of the best that I've read this year.

It is an emotional and heartbreaking story that is wonderfully told through poetic writing.

It also has bravery, hope and espionage throughout.

The Last Letter from Paris is a standalone historical fiction novel written by Kate Eastham. It was published on February 7th, 2023 by Bookouture. I was able to read this book by receiving an ARC on NetGalley by Bookouture in exchange for a review on the book tour.

The novel has several strong, female characters, but the main focus is on Cora. She is a young American girl, who is currently living in France with her mother’s best friend. The primary reason she was traveling to Paris, was to get information of her birth mother, who abandoned her. However, while she is visiting, World War II begins, and the city is overrun with German soldiers.

Iris, her mother’s best friend, is captured by German soldiers. Because she is an American citizen, Cora is allowed to leave the apartment, and goes to stay with her friend Francine. Together with Francine, she joins a small resistance group to help fight the war and get Iris back. She resolves to not leave Paris until Iris is safe.

I really enjoyed Eastham’s writing style, and will look forward to reading more of her work. Her characters are very well developed, and have passions that are able to be felt throughout the novel and to the reader. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was the thinking or decisions by Cora.

I give this novel 4/5 stars. I highly recommend it for fans of historical fiction and women’s fiction. There is elements of romance and mystery, and strong female characters.

In June 1940, Cora Mayhew travels to Paris to search for her mother who abandoned her at birth. The fine silver locket she was found with is her only clue. But the pressure of war feels closer every day, and her adoptive family are desperate for her to return.

I loved the first year of German occupied France setting which is hardly explored in WWII stories. Filled with tension and dread it speaks volumes about the endurance of the human spirit in adversity. Like all WWII stories, The Last letter from Paris also is about bravery, hope, loss, self-discovery, resilience and love.

Though it is narrated from a dual perspective, I liked Evie's perspective with a flashback of how she found Cora and raised her and in the present times her worry for Cora's safety was
heart wrenching to read. Francine, Iris and Lulu with whom Cora forms a special bond during her stay in Paris did add a lot of substance to the story.

Overall, a compelling historical fiction and recommend it to lovers of this genre.

This was such a fantastic read, focusing on the occupation of France during World War Two. The characters all had their distinct personalities and traits which made them come to life through the pages of the book. Cora’s story utterly intrigued me from the first page, drawing me into her journey. I loved following her journey through the book. The author did a fantastic job of always keeping me guessing as to what was going to happen next.

However, I found the book quite slow until the halfway mark which made it hard to get through. But once the real action started, I loved it so much! I cannot wait to read more books by this author.

Within the first few chapters of The Last Letter from Paris by Kate Eastham, the names of some of the characters started to ring a bell with me. As I read so many books each year, specific details can evade me so I stopped and checked and discovered that Iris and Evie had featured in the author’s previous book The Sea Nurses. Even reading the brief prologue some of the information seemed familiar and I was glad to discover the return of much loved characters as I had felt there was definitely another story that could be told centred around these characters. This new book is a standalone though and it wouldn’t in any way feel as if you were missing out by not having read the first book.

This time around the story moves to World War Two and acknowledges how the lives of both Evie and Iris have unfolded since we left them at the end of World War One.Cora, the foundling adopted by Evie having been left by a Frenchwoman at a pier in Southampton, is now grown up and loves her life with Evie and her husband Adam in Montauk in America. But not knowing anything about her true heritage and who her mother was and how she came to be abandoned has long eaten away at her. She desperately wants to know all the details and one day she will go to France to try and find all the answers to the questions that have haunted her.

June 1940 and Iris has spent many years living in Paris following her time spent on the hospital ship Britannic. Her German husband has passed away but she is reluctant to leave the city where he is buried and she can be close to him and visit daily. Cora has for nearly a year being staying with Iris and until now she has enjoyed working in the American library but times are changing with the beginning of a new war. The Germans have marched into the city of light and the carefree days the Parisians enjoyed are over and done with. Iris finds it hard to comprehend that war once again has reached her doorstep as the memories and raw emotions from the previous war are still very much fresh in her mind.

For Cora, this time in Paris was a chance to grow independent and find her true self. Her mission to find out who her mother was and where she came from is at the forefront of her mind but given there was such scant details this to me seemed like attempting to find a needle in a haystack. I presumed the book would focus solely on her quest but as the rumblings of war grew ever present and danger, brutality, devastation, pain and suffering emerge each day the longing she has is put to the back of her mind as she tries to navigate this new world she finds herself in.

I found the book was like a ship riding through the waves, there were many peaks and troughs and lulls. It seemed that at points nothing much happened and then there was a resolution of sorts to some aspect of the story and I thought oh this happened too early and where can the story go from here. But the author took Cora on an adventure and not one full of laughs and pleasurable moments. Instead she is tested to the max and those she loves worry deeply about her as she does too when the worst happens. German soldiers take over Iris’ beautiful apartment and she is taken away with news of her whereabouts and the reason for imprisonment unknown. Cora has but a few brief moments to grab what she can and make her way to the home of Francine a long time friend of both Evie and Iris, who herself lost her husband in the last war. Francine was a wise woman and to all appearances old and just getting on with her life in Paris but appearances can deceptive and Cora soon finds that Francine is astute and well able to play the game and do her bit to stop the Germans. Here is where I felt the story really started to take off as Cora shows her true metal.

Cora is fierce, determined and headstrong and the restlessness and need to search for something drives her on. Yet at times, I found she put herself in dangerous situations unnecessarily and there was also a naivety about her. She didn’t often think of the bigger picture before she acted and as she becomes involved in the Resistance movement and although I applauded her for this I found her to be quite careless when others were trying to keep her safe whilst continuing their work. Karl, the German soldier who took over Iris’ apartment, becomes a dominant feature in Cora’s strand of the story and she is determined to avenge what he has done. She has a hatred for him that fuels her as the things take a very dramatic turn and she must flee from the city which she loved. She can’t bare to leave Iris behind not knowing whether she is alive or dead but her own life she has to put first.

Running alongside the exploits of Cora in France are chapters from Evie’s viewpoint back in America. She is distraught when she learns that Cora has gone missing on the day the Germans invaded the city. She feels helpless that she is so many miles away across the ocean unable to do anything but wander the coastline hoping and wish that things will turn out ok. I found at times going back to Evie disrupted the flow of the story when things were really getting going from Cora’s viewpoint. I understand they were there to show the connection between mother and adopted daughter and the love they had for each other and that Evie was desperate to know that someone who meant the world to her could not possibly be gone forever. There was a streak of anger in Evie too, that Cora didn’t heed the advice and get out of Paris before the Germans arrived. I think also in a way she was jealous that Cora could potentially discover news of her birth mother and that this would take her away from Evie. I felt the story would have worked perfectly without these chapters from Evie’s viewpoint but as I mentioned I do understand the reasoning for their inclusion.

The second half of the book was far stronger than the first and here is where I felt the story found its rhythm and true purpose. Cora swings from one disaster to another in her bid to evade Karl and make it to safety after an incident which turns everything on its head. I found the chapters from the midpoint to be much more taut than the earlier chapters. They were filled with information that drove the story on and there was less filler as I had found there to be quite a bit initially. Violence, inhumanity, danger, secrets and daring are all predominant features and you find yourself thinking with each turn of the page is this it for Cora? Has she taken things too far as she finds herself in numerous precarious situations? I found my reading speed picked up as I neared the final few chapters and I finally had become really invested in the outcome for Cora. The blurb mentions Max and to be honest I think the blurb needs to be rewritten in some parts because to me Max featured for such a short time and the blurb gives the impression it was for a good chunk of the book. For me, it was more about Cora getting to the safety of her end destination when all seemed lost as well as she hopefully discovering what happened to Iris.

The ending of the book was in my mind rushed and I would have loved some more exploration and again I was left with the feeling that there is room for another story. There are one or two burning questions surrounding Cora that I am desperate for answers to. I hope we will get these in the future. If not in a full-length book even a short story would suffice to satisfy my curiosity. Overall, The Last Letter from Paris, was a good read. It’s a story of daring and survival with some romance at a time when the word was falling apart and those existing in the most torrid of times did remarkable and amazing things when everything was firmly against them.