(3.5 / 5)

A story of survival at all costs and the aftermath of war and trauma, Paris Never Leaves You is told in alternating timelines. Charlotte survived occupied Paris and moved to America to start a new life, but the past is never quite in the past. One letter is all it takes to bring back a flood of memories and unravel Charlotte's life.

There's plenty to appreciate about this book, from the descriptions of life in occupied Paris to the very real trauma involved in later years. Charlotte's daughter deals with prejudice and strives to learn more about the heritage that has people hating her for no reason. I had no issues with the dual time periods, and appreciated seeing a different part of WWII than I've most often read about in books.

You may read some reviews where it mentions the romances in this book--one in each time period. Let's not kid ourselves--none of this is "romance." Charlotte's decisions in Paris are the kind where you can't really say what you'd do unless you're in the situation yourself. Her decisions in New York nearly ruined the book for me. There was no need for the relationship to happen the way it did (or at all, really), and I'm just not a fan of infidelity romance. Her reason for not getting off his lap when he gave her the wheelchair ride was a cop-out, plain and simple, and it went downhill from there, for me.

All that said, I am glad I read the book. It brings up a lot of moral quandaries, from start to finish. It can really make you think, questioning how you would act in that situation, both in Charlotte's shoes, but also in many other characters'. I do think that fans of historical fiction, especially WWII/Holocaust related fiction, will like this book. But steer clear if you don't like your heroines getting involved with married men. Also be aware, there is at least one slightly graphic physical encounter in the book, though fortunately not very much of it.

Paris Never Leaves you is a compelling book of the lengths people will go to for the ones they love. Charlotte is working in a bookstore during the height of WWII and is doing everything she can to take care of her daughter Vivi. She hates what is happening to her city and the people who running things, but perhaps one of them might have some redeeming qualities that could save them. Then again, Charlotte may let her pride get the best of her instead.

As the book alternates between Charlotte’s present and past, the truth about Charlotte and Vivi comes out. Will it completely turn their world upside down or will they survive this too?

I really enjoyed this book – first, for the obvious reason that I too love books and bookstores. Secondly, the inner battles Charlotte has with herself constantly really felt true to the time period; does one do what they have to to survive, or do they stick to their ethics and take whatever comes?

If you are a WWII historical fiction buff like me, like alternating timelines and tense moments, this is a book you’ll want to grab a copy of.

Favorite Quotes:

I hope her grandmother rots in that special circle of hell reserved for bigots…

She doesn’t know if she blames him or pities him, hates him or loves him. All she knows is there is enough shame to go around.

She’s his training analyst. Makes her sound like a pair of wheels on the back of a bike, if you ask me.

“I told Mr. Rosenblum I wasn’t Jewish… I thought I ought to tell him. I mean, after the business with the menorah and everything.” “What did he say?” “That nobody’s perfect.”

My Review:

This was an intense yet gripping read with storylines steeped in angst, despair, and human and inhuman tragedy (which don’t rank among my favorite things), yet the quality of the writing was phenomenal and kept me engrossed and fully engaged. I was hooked - I was starving, I was tense, I was cold, I felt unwashed, I was THERE!

Ms. Feldman’s uniquely evocative arrangements of words were powerful, emotive, poignant, transportive, and thoughtfully plotted. This epic tale involved multiple storylines that laced together toward an entirely unexpected and somewhat indeterminate ending. Each thread as tautly written, mysteriously secretive, and anxiously risky of perilous discovery as the next. Her characters were enigmatic, deeply flawed, profoundly insightful, and entirely human. I was pulled into their edgy vortex of imminent danger and impending doom, not just from the brutal cruelty of the Nazi invaders, but more disturbingly, from the unrepentant savagery of the French citizenry as they turned on each other amidst the escalating tensions and unrelenting subjugation of their occupation as well as the aftermath.

There were several instances that required I put my Kindle down, walk away, and seek solace in a vat of wine… the most ruinous was near the end when I found myself totally devastated by a particular loss, and of the most unexpected of characters. Ms. Feldman has strong word voodoo and a new fangirl.

A beautifully told story about a world that is neither black nor white but filled with grey shadows and compromises that will upend you if not dealt with. The past can’t be erased, not really and Charlotte Foret’s only hope is to stand guard against it.

Is it sufficient to say that this is one out of a million wartime stories that is not unique? There are damaged people, the inevitable excuses for what can never be forgiven, lots of hurt, anger, fear, loss. It is all this but told in the most lucid understanding of the lengths someone will go to protect and defend and thereby leaving them as the walking wounded. What is unique is the beautiful telling of this story with the slow understanding that some things can never be put right.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy.

Paris Never Leaves You tells at least three stories, while at the same time expressing again the unforgettable atrocities of WWII.
Charlotte and her young daughter Vivi are victims both of the war and the ugliness that becomes even more personal than the obvious pain and hardships that affect the entire population. This woman and child become the objects of suspicion and ostracization by their neighbors. They are befriended and cared for by Julian, a Nazi soldier in currently occupied France.
The inner psychological, and perhaps spiritual, conflicts of Charlotte and Julian are the compelling elements of the story. Charlotte is not alone in the personal struggles of what are right and wrong decisions in the pursuit of survival. Julian also is taking risks that could severely impact his punishment and/or survival.
Vivi, herself, presents yet another personal hurdle when she becomes a teenager and begins to question and come to terms with what happened in Paris when she was a child.
It is an excellent story, very effectively telling how personal relationships and dangerous living conditions connect us all in mind and heart, if not in circumstance.
Highly recommend.

Charlotte and her daughter Vivi survive the German occupation of Paris during WW2, working and sometimes living in a bookstore. Charlotte does things she is not proud of including how she immigrates to the United States. Ten years later, as Vivi grows into a teenager and starts asking questions about her father and their past, Charlotte still cannot admit the truth and forgive herself. Will Vivi take the partial answers she is willing to give or will Charlotte have to relive the experience and tell all her secrets?

This isn’t your typical WW2 Historical Fiction novel. I enjoyed that it was almost a romance, with some war intertwined. Charlotte is well written, flawed and realistic as a women who is always blaming herself for making wrong choices, when she really didn’t have any other choice to survive. Very thought provoking and unique in its genre, I highly recommend Paris Never Leaves You.

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman. It is a store woven between two decades, that discusses loss, love, grief, survival and moving on after World War II. This was a moving story about Charlotte and her daughter Vivi. As they live in New York after the war, Charlotte works in a publishing house, Vivi is in elementary school. It is full of engaging characters, emotions that tug at heartstrings, and a real situations. This might be one of the best historical fiction novels I have read in sometime.

Charlotte, a widow and her young daughter, Vivi, are struggling to survive in World War II Paris when they catch the eye of German soldier, Julian. He begins to bring Vivi extra food and eventually develops a relationship with Charlotte. Feeling guilty, Charlotte struggles with her feelings. Meanwhile, Julian has a big secret of his own. Years later, when Charlotte has fled to America to avoid being called a traitor because of her relationship with Julian, she strives to forget the past but finds she needs to reconcile that part of her life before she can move forward. Even if you have read a lot of other stories that deal with the same time period, this one is unique and surprising. It is bittersweet and touching and a little bit sad.

Superb. Absolutely superb. The way the story weaves between different time periods is smooth. The characters are vivid and the story draws you in. The type of story you want to crawl into and stay there for a while. A must read. Happy reading!

Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman is the story of Charlotte Foret who survived the Paris Occupation in WWII with her young daughter, Vivi to escape to New York City where she works as an editor for a publishing company. She receives a letter from someone she has no desire to speak to, wanting the past to remain the past, she ignores it. Vivi is now 14 year and has many questions about their life in Paris, the war and her father who died in battle. Charlotte is unsure how to answer her questions as she desperately wants to leave the past in the past. The alternates between Paris, 1944 and New York City, 1954, as she tries to leave the past in the past, a story she desperately wishes would be ignored. She is no stranger to hardship, as she is a survivor. Is her most challenging situation coming? What will her survival cost her? Will she be forced to tell the story she is so reluctant to reveal? The war may be over, but will the past stay in the past?
Paris Never Leaves You is a beautiful story of resilience, love, and impossible choices for survival. Alternating seamlessly between 1944 and 1954, the reader is taken on a journey of an extraordinary struggle to survive as Charlotte is faced with choices many of us hope we never have to make. The switch between timelines is very subtle that if you are not paying attention you will miss it. This book is a story that you must take your time with and take in the imagery that Ms. Feldman paints and the story she weaves, the twists and turns. It is not the story one would expect. Paris Never Leaves You is a change from the WWII stories I have read before. I enjoyed each character as they felt real with their virtues and faults. I loved the relationship between Charlotte and Vivi. At times it was like a normal mother-teenage daughter relationship and at others, it was a very unique relationship. It leaves you wondering what you would have done if you were in Charlotte’s shoes. I highly recommend Paris Never Leaves You.

Paris Never Leaves You
is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook

This was different from most WWII historical fiction I have read and yet, it was just as heartbreaking and deeply moving. The setting is mostly in 1950's Manhattan but does go back and forth to the 1940's in Occupied Paris towards the end of the war. A beautiful bittersweet story about love, betrayal, guilt, and survival. Wonderful but complex characters. The descriptions are so vivid, you feel you are right there in the story. It will captivate you from the start.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.

I enjoy reading books in this time-frame, the time of WWII. This era fascinates me—the struggles and hardships that the people had to endure are unbelievable. And the fact that people were able to go on and make a life for themselves after is commendable.

Charlotte did what she had to do to survive and to keep her daughter safe in Paris during the war. The story was heartbreaking to read at points but those scenes only reinforced Charlotte's strength and the power of the love of a mother for her child.

Paris Never Leaves You is a memorable look at life in Paris when the world was falling down around our feet. The characters feel real, the drama feels scary, and the descriptive paragraphs transported me there. This is a must read if you love historical fiction stories set in this time period.

1950’s – Charlotte and her daughter have survived WWII and are now living in New York City. A single mother to 14-year-old Vivi, she works at an established publishing house in the city. All the while, memories during the Occupation of France flood her mind constantly, always a fresh reminder of her decisions of that time. How did she survive the War, how did they get out?

1944 near the end of the German Occupation of France -- Charlotte has lived in terror during the German Occupation. The German soldiers walk the streets, physically and mentally attacking the French on a whim. Charlotte and her friend Simone run a bookstore and it gives some comfort during the difficult time, that is until a German soldier starts to frequent the place, putting her and their customers on edge. As a single mother, she would do anything to keep her young daughter Vivi safe and would do anything to survive until the country is finally liberated.

Charlotte’s memories of her time in France is a constant intrusion in her new life in New York. In my opinion, for the readers who skim through books, might miss or be confused by the flashbacks to 1944. I, on the other hand, fully immersed myself in 1940’s Paris and 1950’s New York – feeling scared, anger, protectiveness and guilt.

Essentially this book is of survival during one of histories most horrific times, with secrets and difficult decisions that were not easily made.

A big thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. This book was worth the wait.

The story opens in 1944 Paris. Charlotte walks by a mob punishing a woman for collaboration horizontale. It’s a shockingly abrasive scene to be thrown straight into—before getting a chance to become familiar with who Charlotte is, before figuring out and settling into where we are in the war—and just as soon as we are in it, we are out of it, swept up into 1954 New York publishing, meeting Charlotte’s colleagues, trying to grasp every name because we don’t know who’s important yet.

A mysterious letter appears on Charlotte’s office desk at Gibbon & Field publishing, and the war, ten years past, comes seeping back, despite all her efforts to move past it and build a new life for her and her daughter. It doesn’t get any easier as her daughter starts asking questions about the past that Charlotte has tried so hard to shield her from.

The dual timelines eventually found their rhythm to feel slightly less disjoint, but I did get a bit of whiplash navigating between them at the beginning.

Another thing to adjust to was the lack of tension in the rest of the story, which was surprising, considering the heavy historical context and the opening scene. In a time as perilous as WWII, every cause and effect is heightened, yet the war seemed to merely occur at the periphery of Charlotte’s life—its greatest inconvenience being that it hindered an illicit romance—which came off a bit self-absorbed.

I felt like the romance distracted from the more interesting themes of survival, survivor’s guilt, motherhood, and the sociology of passing. That last theme I find especially interesting, and I would have loved for that aspect to be further explored in the characterisation of the players involved.

But maybe then I’m asking for a different story. This wasn’t the WWII fiction novel I was expecting, but this could be one for historical romance readers.

Author Ellen Feldman has written a Holocaust survivor story about WWII and the years just after the war in PARIS NEVER LEAVES YOU. She has attempted to put some mystery and tension in this tale by turning it inside out and I’m not going to reveal exactly what that means; it is an intrinsic part of the book. I will say it made the tale feel less authentic to me, as a reader steeped in this topic, and took away much of the impact from the historical setting of the book. In a topic so heavily explored, there is always room for a new approach; I just didn’t find this one to have the impact I had hoped it would. Rather than allude to issues that bothered me when I don’t wish to give away the mystery, I’ll just say the premise was far-fetched in many ways. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

While there was touch of romance in this book, this book is about survival. Charlotte and her daughter Vivi make it through most of WWII in Paris before being taken to a concentration camp. Luckily, it’s right before the camp is liberated. The romance in this novel is limited and mainly for Charlotte and her daughters survival.
Alternating between timelines, Charlotte is now in New York City. Never considering herself a Jew, she came to the United States to try to blend in and put her past behind her. Vivi is being bullied and facing prejudice about being a Jew and wants to learn more about her religion which brings everything back to the surface for Charlotte.
The author did an amazing job with this story and I absolutely loved it. I love reading books like these and learning more about this time perod. It was such a horrible time. The characters were all wonderfully written. I’m glad to have been a part of this blog tour.
Thank you, St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Painful Story of Surviving WWII and Living With One's Conscience
This story is an account of a young mother who does what is necessary to ensure her and her daughter's survival in Occupied Paris during WWII. Post-war, she is an editor at a publishing house in New York City and is striving to raise a well-adjusted child while dealing with her own survivor's guilt. It is a hard story to read. It is very moving and realistic. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Paris Never Leaves You is an incredible historical fiction novel.

The story alternates timelines between wartime during WWII in Paris and 1950's New York.

Charlotte makes it through the war and escapes Paris with her toddler daughter Vivi. Life is calm and good for Charlotte and VIvi. Vivi is now a teenager and has so many questions about who her father is and what happened in Paris during that time. Charlotte wishes to leave the past in the past including all the secrets she ran from.

The characters are complex, and well fleshed out. The story is extremely well written. I really liked the different time lines.

If you enjoy historical fiction, this is a must read!

Highly recommend !

Paris Never Leaves You is historical fiction and it takes place in dual timelines, in occupied France during WWII and about 10 years later in NYC. The main characters are Charlotte and her young daughter, Vivi. Charlotte is working at a bookshop in Paris, trying to survive the Nazi occupation alone with a baby to care for. Charlotte’s husband died on the frontlines. While working in the book shop, Charlotte encounters a young Nazi soldier, Julian. Charlotte hates that Julian keeps visiting the shop, yet he begins to help her by bringing some things for Vivi, who is malnourished.
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In the timeline a decade later, Charlotte is working for a publisher in NYC, raising a teenage Vivi who is experiencing anti-Semitism in school. This well-written, complex character-driven novel explores the psychological effects of war. Survivor’s guilt, fear of the past that bleeds over into the present. How far would you go to save your child’s life?
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The two timelines were a little bit hard to follow, but I'm not sure if this was the format of the galley or if it was just that I had trouble keeping them straight. But aside from that, Paris Never Leaves You is a lovely, unique, heartbreaking story. I want to thank St. Martin’s Griffin for my advanced copy.

I was hoping to like this book because WWII historical is what I gravitate towards in genres. However, there are two timelines interweaved within the story that made it confusing and disconnected.
I would like to Thank NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the eARC.