The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris is a nicely-written historical fiction following two timelines, the present and Paris during World War II. In the present, Juliette and her husband, Kevin, have taken a trip to Paris, an event she is more invested in than he is. While there, it comes to light that he’s having an affair with their neighbor down the street. Juliette decides to stay in Paris to think over her life and marriage. The pretext they give their friends is that she is researching her family history, and indeed, her grandmother grew up in Paris. Using a painting that her grandmother kept in her home as a guide, Juliette searches every little square in Paris until she finds the one depicted in the image, and that discovery sets off unimaginable changes in her life.
In the 1940s timeline, Jacques has everything he needs to live a complete life: wife Matilde and his bookstore, Le page cachée. But the Nazis have taken over Paris, and Jacques is instructed to remove certain illicit books from his store. Matilda, much more of an activist that Jacques, goes to the south of France to work with the Resistance. As Jacques witnesses more and more Nazi atrocities, he understands his wife’s need to take action and becomes stronger than he thought he could be.
There is a nice balance of male and female points of view in the two timelines. Though the outcome is somewhat predictable, the main characters have nice character arcs, and even the minor characters are well-rounded.
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The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris (Avon, October 27, 2022) is available through:
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