Publisher: Bookouture
Series: Daughters of New York #3
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction
Synopsis
Vianne rushes through the crowded streets of Paris as the German bombs begin to fall. As she rounds the corner she sees the familiar spires of the old church burst into flames. Too late, she realizes that her mother and sister are trapped inside…
Paris, 1918. The end of war is in sight, and young seamstress Vianne Mercier is longing for the day when she can stop sewing military uniforms and start creating the beautiful dresses that she has been dreaming up in her head.
But just when it seems like peace is within reach, Vianne’s mother and sister are killed in a terrible air raid. To make matters worse, Vianne’s brother has returned home a changed man. Controlling and cruel, he presents Vianne with an ultimatum; give up her dreams of becoming a designer, or be forced onto the streets, penniless and alone.
With nothing left for her in Paris but sad memories, she decides to sail for New York. Determined not to look back, she throws herself into her new life—spending her days sewing dresses for wealthy Upper East Side women, and her evenings dancing the Charleston to Duke Ellington in the new downtown clubs. When Vianne meets handsome Italian Giorgio Conti, he encourages her career, and she feels safe for the first time since she lost her family.
Then news of a terrible accident compels Vianne to suddenly return to France, where she discovers proof of a wartime secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her family. Facing the threat of sickness and ruin, the people who forced Vianne out of her home now suddenly need her help.
Will Vianne find the courage to follow her heart, return to New York and her life with Giorgio? Or will duty bind her to the family she had left behind and force her to remain in France?
From Amazon Charts bestseller Ella Carey comes an utterly gripping and emotional historical wartime novel about the terrible choices people made during humanity’s darkest days. Fans of Fiona Valpy, Rhys Bowen and The Nightingale will adore this novel.
My Thoughts
While knitting balaclavas for the soldiers at the front, Vianne Mercier dreams of becoming a fashion designer with her own fashion house, but her dreams are put on hold when her family suffers a tragedy which badly affects her father's health. Vianne takes over the running of her father's antiques business, awaiting the day her brother Jacques returns from the war. His homecoming and marriage changes Vianne's life dramatically. After serving her apprenticeship in a lesser-known Parisian fashion house, Vianne abandons Paris with all its sad memories for a new start in New York. Here she becomes a junior designer for a famous fashion house, where she designs and sews gowns for the wealthy. Just as her career is taking off, she receives some shocking news and returns to Paris, leaving behind her friends and a budding romance.
The Girl from Paris is another great addition to Ella Carey's Daughters of New York series. She blends her fictional tale and characters with known events and historical figures, including Edith Cavell, the British nurse who helped many allied soldiers escape from German occupied Belgium; Josephine Baker, the American singer; and the bombardment of Paris towards the end of the war by the German Paris Gun manufactured by Krupps.
Carey also brings to life Jazz Age New York, in particular the fashion industry, where the vivid descriptions of the beautiful gowns that Vianne and her colleagues create add to the glitz and glamour of the times.
Ella Carey continues to be one of my favourite authors and I'm eager to read what she writes next.
Where to Purchase
Amazon
Audio Links: UK : US : SoundCloud
Meet the Author
Connect with Ella: Website : Facebook : Twitter : Instagram
Blog Tour Schedule
Reading Challenges
This book satisfies the following Reading Challenges:
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I liked this one too!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy an Ella Carey novel!
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