In occupied France, Charlotte Foret, is a young widow and she has an eighteen month old daughter called Vivienne. Charlotte and her best friend Simone run a bookshop together, they both have young children, and they take it in turns watching the shop and waiting in the endless lines for food.

Life in Paris during WW II is difficult, food is scarce, everyone is hungry and scared of the German soldiers.
A German doctor Julian Bauer starts visiting the bookstore, Charlotte is a nervous wreck when he's in the shop, the Germans have a list of banned books, it's called the Otto list and with so many books in the shop it's possible for one of the books to be still on the shelves or someone wanting revenge could plant one?

The book has a dual timeline, it goes between wartime in occupied France and New York in the 1950's. It works really well and I had no trouble with following the story.

New York 1950's, Charlotte is now living in the America, she's been sponsored by Horace and Hannah Field. Horace owns a publishing company, he's a returned soldier and Charlotte works for him reading book manuscripts.

Vivi is now fourteen, she's doing well at school, she has friends, she's healthy and looks like your typical American teenager. But, Charlotte is struggling, her daughter has started asking questions about her dad Laurent, do they have any relatives living in France, why don't they celebrate traditional Jewish customs and holidays?
Charlotte is worried, she did things during the war to survive and years later she still doesn't feel safe.

All four major characters in the story have secrets, Charlotte, Julian, Horace and Hannah.

Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman is a story about choices a mother makes for herself and her young daughter to survive World War Two. I loved the book, the story sets a great pace and it keeps you guessing right until the very end. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have been reading and listening to a lot of WWII set historical fictions lately so it was interesting to see where Paris Never Leaves You would take me.
It follows the story of Charlotte and her daughter Vivi across two different time lines throughout the book. In occupied Paris during WWII, Charlotte works in a small local bookstore whilst raising an 18 month old Charlotte. She is doing whatever it takes to survive, and after her daughter becomes ill she takes the help of a German physician named Julian that frequently visits the bookshop. She ends up becoming romantically involved with him and that leaves her with a lot of guilt during and after the war. Meanwhile in 1954, we see Charlotte and Vivi in their new lives in New York City. Vivi is now a fourteen year old and wants to find out about her past and family history. Charlotte is working as an editor at the publishing house of one of her fathers friends, Horace that she originally met in Paris. He is now in a wheelchair after losing his legs fighting in the war. Charlotte and Horace also have an interesting relationship but Horace's marriage prevents them from doing more.
Overall this is more a book about surviving the war as an everyday civilian and the mental toll it can still have on you well after the war has ended. Everyone has secrets and they all needed to do what they did to survive.
I'm giving this book 3 1/2 stars as it didn't resonate with me as much as other books I've read lately and the ending was just a massive letdown for me. It really could have been another 100 pages to receive a bit more of the closure I needed.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Simon and Schuster for this ARC copy.

Presented in two timelines (during NAZI occupation and after the war) and two locations (Paris and New York), the story flows beautifully. Charlotte's journey from Paris to New York, her identity as a Jew, her guilt as a collaborator, while trying to find love. The characters certainly sucked me into the story.

Set across two times lines - Paris during WWII and New York post war in the 1950s.
Charlotte married with a young baby Viv is trying to survive war time Paris. Little to no food, no husband and a malnourished baby. She lives with Simone who is a Jew and together they run a little bookshop. Life is extremely harrowing until a German Dr enters the bookshop one day and offers a lifeline.
This book offer a different perspective on living through the war and on post war survivor guilt but it does so in an empathetic and caring way.
Charlotte is a complete character and her teenage daughter Vic questions her life, her religion, her father and her dark secrets.
Paris Never Leaves You is about love, motherhood, survival, secrets and the choices one makes in life