When Caroline Williams wakes up in Paris with no memory of her past, she finds that returning to the life she has forgotten is harder than she thought. Even her cavernous apartment on rue Cler seems to hold no clues…
As she searches, Caroline discovers a hidden stack of letters written by a young mother, Céline, during the Second World War. Captivated by Céline’s desperate love for both her daughter and her missing lover, and the haunting glimpses of Paris under Nazi occupation, Caroline begins to realise she may have more in common with Céline that she could ever imagine.
What dark secrets are harboured within the walls of her picture-perfect Parisian home?
And could uncovering the truth about Céline unlock Caroline’s own…?
My thoughts:
This is a beautiful, sad, moving story, both in Caroline’s present and Celine’s past.
The occupation of Paris is evocatively and sensitively brought to life, both the darkness of Celine’s time in the apartment that connects the two women, and her memories of life before, when things were happier.
Caroline’s amnesia and her subsequent attempt to remember who she was and what her life was like is equally sensitively handled and written.
Amidst the darkness the two women face in their own times, there is also light and love, making this a redemptive, ultimately uplifting tale of two women across time, trying to live their lives against sometimes insurmountable odds.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 