With every novel she publishes, Pam Jenoff continues to cement her place as the resounding voice of World War II historical fiction; she knows what she’s doing and does it so well. In this remarkably captivating dual timeline novel, LAST TWILIGHT IN PARIS, a beautiful family heirloom necklace becomes a decades long mystery that will sweep the reader away and capture their heart and soul. No one tugs at your heartstrings quite like Pam Jenoff. It’s a remarkable story of heroism and survival.

Pam Jenoff is such a special writer. She has an amazing ability to take an idea and create magic between the book covers. With her extensive knowledge of WWII and her thoughtful style of storytelling, Last Twilight in Paris is a solid A+!!!

Be sure not to overlook the author's note at the end of the book where she tells the reader about her "gasp" moment. It is an extra tidbit of information that makes the story even more fascinating as does some of the other information she shares regarding her creative process. The way she combines historical places and events with richly developed fictional characters and story lines, Pam Jenoff's books do not disappoint.

Last Twilight in Paris is a beautiful story that follows two women living during WWII. One is a Jewish woman being held as a prisoner at the Levitan department store in Paris. The other a non-Jewish Red Cross worker who delivers relief packages to prisoners of war. The book explores each woman's story and the challenges she faces while tying them together with a single locket. This was an emotional and beautiful read.

For the suspense lover in me, this book had a few plot twists that helped hold my attention and keep my mind enthralled. To the historical fiction lovers out there be sure to add this well written, thought provoking and heartstring tugging read to your list.

I would like to thank Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audio book. The narrators, Thérèse Plummer and Saskia Maarleveld did an exceptional job bringing this story to life. For those who enjoy hardcover books, the sprayed edges on this one are simply stunning!

This novel follows two women in Europe who were impacted by WWII. This novel is heartbreaking but also mysterious as the reader tries to uncover the truth behind the locket found a decade after the war ended.

Helaine is a Jewish woman living in Paris during the onset of WWII, she is ripped from the life and family she knows as Paris becomes occupied by the Nazis and she is eventually imprisoned in a department store within the city limits.

Louise is a housewife in London in 1953 who is settling into her post-war life when she finds a locket she recognizes from her time during the war. As she begins to ask questions and look for answers, the reader begins to learn more about her involvement in war efforts.

Told across dual POV and timeline, this novel highlights a part of WWII history I had not explored before (Red Cross involvement in the war effort & Nazi's occupation of Paris). I did find this novel to lag at times, which is what resulted in the 3⭐️ rating. I enjoyed the organization, the writing and the plot but I found it unnecessarily long and could have been cut by an hour or two.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars (Outstanding)
Setting: London in 1950s; Nazi Occupied Paris of the 1940s
Genre: Historical Fiction

Pam Jenoff, the brilliant storyteller behind The Orphan’s Tale, delivers yet another unforgettable historical novel with Last Twilight in Paris. This gripping tale masterfully blends mystery, romance, and history, pulling readers into a postwar journey filled with secrets, survival, and long-buried truths.

Louise’s discovery of a mysterious necklace sparks a compelling quest across time and place, from 1950s London to the haunting remnants of Nazi-occupied Paris. As she unravels the dark history of the Lévitan department store—a real-life Nazi prison—she is forced to confront painful memories of war, lost friendships, and an unresolved love. The dual timelines between Louise and Helaine, a Jewish woman imprisoned during the war, add incredible depth and emotional weight to the story, making their experiences both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Jenoff’s greatest strength lies in her ability to bring history to life through deeply human characters. Louise is a relatable and determined protagonist, and her connection with Ian adds a poignant romantic layer to the narrative. While the novel slows in the middle, it gains momentum toward the end, culminating in a powerful and satisfying conclusion.

Rich with historical detail, suspense, and raw emotion, Last Twilight in Paris is a moving and beautifully written novel that lingers long after the final page. Fans of historical fiction, particularly those drawn to WWII-era stories, will find this book both heartbreaking and hopeful—a testament to resilience, love, and the pursuit of truth. #netgalley #lasttwilightinparis #booked_this_weekend

3.5 stars. Last Twilight in Paris is a historical fiction set during and post WWII. We get a story centered around a necklace with dual timeline from 1943 in Nazi-occupied Paris and 1953 in London and Paris.

In 1953 Louise is living in London and finds a necklace in a second hand shop and is sure she’s seen it before around the same time a friend mysteriously died when they were working with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe. The necklace is marked with a department store in Paris, so she takes off there with the hopes to learn more. We then flashback to 1943 Paris, Helaine is a young Jewish woman whose husband goes missing while fighting in the war. When she tries finding out information about him she’s taken custody and put into a labor camp of sorts that was once a fancy department store where she has to sort through belongings taken from other Jewish families.

This one had a lot going on with all the characters backstory, maybe a tad bit too much at times since it started to take away from the overall story. I wasn’t as invested in Louise’s timeline as much. All in all, a decent read, my first from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the gifted ALC.

My first Pam Jenoff book and it won't be my last. It took a little bit of time to get into the thick of the story, but once in, I was hooked. Jenoff does a great job of finding an unknown aspect of history and creating a story around that with her mostly fictional characters. I'm not always a lover of dual storylines, but I appreciated that they were close together and the link was reasonable.

Yes, it's another WWII book, but a new storyline that made for an interesting read.

Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC.

Why do I not visit Historical Fiction more often. I love at the and how Pam Jenoff suggest books to read to know more about this topic of the book

For all of the Historical books that I have read I have never read about a store that the Germans came in to buy items from the Jews

This book is about a friendship during the war. And a non Jew and how she found this necklace, that rolled out the connection of them and now (ish).

Highly recommend this story, for a different perspective

This story is told across two timelines, following Louise and Helaine. Helaine was imprisoned by German soldiers during the invasion of France, while Louise, adjusting to life after volunteering in WWII, finds a necklace that looks familiar. She’s certain it once belonged to her late friend Frannie and sets out to uncover its past. It took a little while for me to get into this one, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. I liked how both storylines came together in the end.
The narrators, Thérèse Plummer and Saskia Maarleveld, did a great job bringing the characters to life, making the story even more engaging.
A very special thanks to Harlequin Audio for the gifted copy.

In another WWII era mystery this one features Hélène and Louise, two women with separate stories of tragedy from the Second World War that are connected by a heart locket necklace. It’s a beautiful and tragic tale of loss and survival and recovery.

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Very well written!

Historical fiction is not a genre I usually read but I have recently been thinking to go over my comfort zone and I’m glad I did.

This story is so well developed by taking true historical elements and adapting and innovating fictional elements around them to spin up an interesting and unique storyline. The plot twist in the end was nicely done.

The characters, premise, mystery, emotions, story flow were all well maintained which is rather difficult when the story is dual POV through multiple timelines.

I now understand why the author’s stories are popular. She does do it well and right.

Do not miss this if you are a historical fiction fan who’d love a mysterious twist as well.

Thank you to Harlequin and HTP Hive for the galley and ALC. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 rounded up

Another well crafted, historical fiction novel about a little known piece of WWII. This focused more on our FMCs before and after the war, and a necklace that connected them. I enjoyed the character development and the trials they each overcame. It’s a slow build up to unexpected twists in the last 10%.

This turned out to be a very good read with a twist at the end. Even though the concentration, worker and POW camps have been written about; I have not heard about the stores that the Jews were forced to work in. Especially selling the household contents of other Jewish families to Nazis. It was like a slap in the face for just being a Jew. I found myself looking up the Levitan store in Paris and found pictures. The book was well written. Also the ending was on a good note.

How do you review a book that is absolute perfection? From the plot to the characters to the multiple storylines and everything in between, Last Twilight in Paris is a book that will forever live in my soul. Narrators Thérèse Plummer and Saskia Maarleveld brought so much life and depth to their roles that I struggled to press pause throughout the journey. I absolutely loved it!

Thank you Harlequin Audio for the gifted ALC.

Louise discovers a necklace while working in a thrift shop after the war. She is immediately flooded with memories and remembers the necklace from her time as a Red Cross volunteer during the war. Her best friend died under mysterious circumstances during that time and she remembers the necklace. She becomes obsessed and begins tracking down any information she can about it. Is there a connection to her friends death? As Louise travels looking for clues another narrative about a young woman named Helaine unfolds. Both women's stories are full of danger, love, sacrifice and heartbreak. The two women seemingly have no connection until Louise begins to trace the necklaces history to Helaine.

This was a riveting story that kept me up late into the night reading. It was was written with so much emotion and attention to detail. I found myself researching the history of some of the events mentioned in the story and was sucked in. The authors note gave some good information and places to find more. I love that!! Yes it was dramatized but it was done so well. What a great story from a sad time in history.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

4 ⭐️

This historical novel is set during and after World War II. In France before and during the war, we see Helaine, a young Jewish woman from a privileged family who marries cellist Gabriel. And in 1953 England, we see Louise, a married mother who works at a thrift shop where one day she discovers half a heart necklace, which looks just like the one she saw during the war when she traveled to Europe with the Red Cross - a necklace she saw someone giving to her friend Franny just before Franny was killed. Louise embarks on a journey to try to figure out the necklace's past, which eventually leads her to Levitan, a French department store which was used during the war as a prison camp for Jews who were forced to clean and sell other Jews' belongings - and where Helaine eventually ended up.

I have read a lot of Holocaust fiction, so it's always interesting when a book actually teaches me something new that I hadn't heard about before - and I certainly had never heard about Levitan, so I really appreciated that. However, I felt like this book was so slow and took SO long to get going. The publisher blurb mentions Levitan and based on the author's note, that was her whole inspiration to write this book - so why then does it take 50% of the book for Louise to find out about it, ad 60% of the book before Helaine even arrives there? However, things definitely got more interesting at that point, though then the book wrapped up perhaps a bit too quickly and neatly.

So overall, I'm glad I read it, but wouldn't necessarily say it's a must read. I did enjoy the audio narration, with dual narration (one for each character) by Therese Plummer and Saskia Marleveld.

3.5 stars.

In a year that makes me want to sink deeper and deeper into a comfort cocoon, I am trying to make myself read a bit outside of my norm. I’ve noticed that historical fiction is a genre I rarely indulge in and, after reading The Last Twilight in Paris by @pamjenoff, I can’t remember why.

Told in dual POV The Last Twilight in Paris focuses on Helaine, a young Jewish woman living in Paris who spent most of her life isolated at home following a childhood illness, and Louise, a British mother and wife who volunteered with the Red Cross during the war and now works part time at a secondhand shop. When Louise finds a necklace in an old crate she recognizes it immediately from her time during the war and sets off to find the owner and resolve a mystery that has plagued her for years. With some chapters following her present day search, which brings her back in the orbit of the man she once loved, others bring us back to Louise’s time as a volunteer when she befriended a vibrant woman named Franny. In Helaine’s chapters we see her sickly youth, her struggle for independence, her chance at love, and her internment in a unique type of work camp. I was fascinated and horrified to learn about Lévitan, a former sophisticated department store that was turned into a Nazi prison/shop where items stolen from Jewish homes were sorted, cleaned, and sold by prisoners to Nazi soldiers. I had never heard of such a camp and reading the despair the women suffered and the constant fear of being sent to a place ever worse was harrowing. Despite dealing with difficult subject matter, The Last Twilight in Paris maintains hope throughout and has two strong and brilliant women as its heart.

I am so happy I decided to give this book a try. WWII fiction is so abundant but @pamjenoff always manages to make her characters shine and give us a new perspective. I alternated between the ebook and audio and both were wonderful.

This was my first book by Pam Jenoff and I absolutely loved it! I am newer to historical fiction and have read quite a few lately but none from this time frame yet. It takes place during World War II and after and is loosely based on real people and their roles during the war. The camp at the Parisian department store was different and some of the women were tasked with cleaning up the Jew possessions that were taken when they were captured and making them look brand new for the Germans to come shop from. There was another storyline running at the same time of a woman, Louise, traveling with Franny, a singer, and the Red Cross to deliver care packages to the concentration camps. Louise knew that Franny was trying to help some of the Jews escape but when she dies all of a sudden, Louise is heartbroken to have lost her best friend. Fast forward to after the war when Louise found the necklace that Franny had been trying to get back to the cello players wife and she starts to look into the journey of the necklace. It was an intriguing story and I really enjoyed listening to it. The narrators really brought the story to life.

4.5/5

One of the main reasons I chose this audiobook is because it has two of my favorite narrators, Saskia Maarleveld and Therese Plummer. I've never read anything by Pam Jenoff, and now I'm glad I did. Last Twilight in Paris takes place during and after World War II, and if you've read any of my reviews, then you already know that's my favorite timeline in historical fiction. I also love when I can learn some new historical facts about the era in the process, and that was the case with this story. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but the plot was very intriguing and contained a little bit of everything - love, romance, mystery, heartbreak - just to name a few. I would also classify it as a "clean" story, since there was no graphic language or scenes, so if you enjoy those types of books, then I would highly recommend it. As always, Saskia and Therese did an incredible job narrating, and it thrilled my little soul to hear them narrating this book together. Overall, I'm glad I took a chance on this new-to-me author, and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Book Review: Last Twilight in Paris

Pam Jenoff delivers a piercing depiction of Jewish life in Nazi-occupied Paris, weaving a gripping tale of love, war, and the fight to survive. Set against the backdrop of a real-life Parisian department store where Jews were forced to sell stolen belongings, the novel illuminates a shocking and little-known piece of WWII history.

With lyrical and poignant prose, Jenoff crafts a story of love, loss, and inner fortitude, balancing historical accuracy with an intriguing mystery that keeps the pages turning. Fans of WWII fiction will be riveted by this fast-paced and vibrant wartime tale of resilience, female friendship, and the courage to fight for the truth. Last Twilight in Paris is yet another testament to Jenoff’s place as one of the most important and authentic voices in historical fiction today.

Last Twilight in Paris beautifully weaves together the stories of two women who were affected by World War II. Louise is a young British woman who opts to do her part by volunteering with the Red Cross after the war breaks out, while Helene is a young Jewish French woman whose life is in serious danger once the Germans take over. I enjoyed the differing narratives, as well as the narrators that read each woman's story, and as always, Jenoff includes lots of historical information to make this novel feel realistic. I would have liked more information about the twist at the end, as it felt a little rushed, but overall, I really liked this book! Thank you to Harlequin Audio for my eALC copy in exchange for my honest review.