Last Twilight in Paris

This was very engaging with its multiple timelines and suspense in each. Good characters. Startling new information about the war in Paris. Really grabbed my interest. I was glad of the two narrators to seperate the storylines. Great conclusion!

We meet Louise who delivered packages to prisoners of war during World War II and Helaine who was a prisoner in the Levitan department store taken over by the Nazis that housed goods stolen from Jewish homes.

The prisoners had to sort through all of the goods, and the German officers would stop by to buy it.

Louise now has a husband and twin children and works in a secondhand store. One day she found a necklace that she recognized as one similar to the one her friend Franny had.

How did the necklace happen to be in a box with other items that came to the second hand shop with the name Levitan Department Store on the outside?

Could it be the same one?

Louise travels to France and meets her old heartthrob but he disappears and she continues to show more try to solve the mystery of the necklace and to find out what really happened to her friend Franny.

Will she find out about the necklace or simply find what prisoners housed in the department store endured and were forced to do?

We learn of Heleine’s fate, her eventual arrest because she was Jewish, and her time in the department store.

If you have read Pam Jenoff’s books, you know you will be reading a marvelous, well-researched historical gem with a pull-you-in storyline and with characters you will love and be able to feel their every emotion. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. show less

“Last Twilight in Paris” by Pam Jenoff pulls you in with its dual timelines and emotional depth. Living in postwar London in 1953, Louise finds a mysterious necklace that brings back haunting memories of her time with the Red Cross during the war. As she searches for the truth, we’re transported to 1940s Paris to meet Helaine, a Jewish woman caught up in the horrors of Nazi occupation and imprisoned in Lévitan, a department store turned prison.

The story is fast-paced and shines a light on a part of history I had no idea about—how Nazis used a Parisian store as a prison and storage space for stolen goods. Both Louise and Helaine’s stories are filled with love, loss, and determination, and the way their lives connect kept me show more reading.

If you’re into WWII fiction, especially stories about little-known parts of history, this one’s for you. It’s a mix of romance, mystery, and resilience that will stick with you after you’re done reading. 4 stars! show less

London, 1953. Louise Burns is a married woman whose husband, Joe, a veteran, is haunted by nightmares of the war. Louise's post-war life has not met her expectations as she struggles to adapt as a wife and mother of two. She works part-time in a second-hand shop, where she discovers a necklace bearing the name of a luxury Parisian store. The necklace sparks a memory from her time as a British Red Cross volunteer in occupied France and Germany, where her friend Franny died under mysterious circumstances. Undeterred by her former Red Cross boss's dismissiveness, Louise travels to Paris to uncover the necklace's origins and its connection to her past. The narrative unfolds through a dual timeline, told from the perspectives of Louise and show more Helaine Weil, a young Jewish woman who was imprisoned in the Lévitan department store, which the Nazis used for sinister purposes. The mysterious link between the necklace and the characters' experiences is a powerful theme that inspires reflection on the human spirit's capacity for resilience and hope. As the two stories intersect, the characters' struggles and triumphs will leave you in awe of the strength of the human heart. Pam Jenoff's exceptional writing has crafted an eye-opening narrative that will linger long after the final page, inspiring courage in the face of adversity and faith in the transformative power of hope. This book is a testament to the human spirit's capacity for resilience and the power of hope, highly recommended for its thought-provoking and awe-inspiring storytelling. show less

Another glimpse into some lesser known WWII history in a very easy-to-read format. It's not very common to read stories from this time period that end with a neat little bow, all questions answered. In this case, however, the ending felt misaligned with the rest of the novel. The writing began to feel more expository than natural and character's dialogue too presentation or "perfect." Too much of being told what happened, rather than a more natural reveal. Any story that tells of the dangers of propaganda, racism and bigotry is so important and relevant today though, so it is a recommended read even just to remind us of our own humanity.

Another fantastic HF story by Pam Jenoff. Louise and Helaine both have incredible stories to share about their experiences during and after WW2 from England and Paris. Set in 1953, with parts returning during to the War, Louise takes a break from her current housewife and mother situation to go to London and Paris to find the owner of a necklace that she saw during the war but resurfaced at her local thrift store. Helaine was a Jewish woman that was imprisoned at Levitan, a former department store in Paris. The Germans used the store as a clearinghouse for acquired goods from all the Jewish families they forced into internment camps. Louise uses former connections to help her track down the original owner of the necklace and someone show more from her past turns out to be a traitor.
I loved that this story was inspired by the true fact that the store was used to house Jewish prisoners in Paris. Again, unbelievable, but true, stories that need to be told and HF novelists do an amazing job bringing them to life. The dual time line was carefully crafted to fill in parts of the background of the story and added richness to the characters. I am constantly in awe of the women during this time period who were brave, brilliant, and creative to survive this tremendous tragedy. Even though Louise and Helene weren't real, they encompass was so many women accomplished or endured during and after the War. Once I started reading, the characters and story drew me in quickly and didn't let me go. I won't give away the ending, but will say that I was pleasantly surprised at some of the reveals and how the book wrapped up. The Author's Notes explain how she found this piece of history that she had to write about and what she fictionalized to tell the story.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of WW2 historical fiction that contains pieces of history we haven't heard about before.
#LastTwilightinParis #NetGalley #historicalfiction
Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own. show less

Louise Burns is in England in 1953 when she finds a half-heart necklace in a donation box labeled with Levitan, the name of a former French home furnishings store that served as a Nazi camp in WWII in Paris. She recognizes the necklace as one she saw in a POW camp in Germany when she went with Ian and the Red Cross to deliver food boxes to the prisoners. She saw a POW giving Franny, a singer/actress, who was there to entertain, the necklace after which Franny was killed, supposedly by a hit-and-run. After this, Louise was sent back to England. Louise had always thought Franny was murdered, but could not convince Ian or the Red Cross to do anything about it. The other half of the alternating chapters is about Helaine Wiell, a pampered show more Jewish girl, who marries Gabriel Lamarque, a top-notch French cellist, against her parents wishes. They marry a few years before France is invaded. During WII, Gabriel volunteers to be part of a musicians group that plays in the POW camps. Helaine is arrested and sent to Levitan to sort and help sell Jewish possessions to German officers. The novel tells the story of how Louise decides to investigate who the half-heart locket was intended for, in order to try to solve the murder of Franny. show less