Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction set it WWII France with split timeline (1944 and 1953). This was a fantastic read and loved the characters especially Helaine and Gabriel. I don't want to do a plot spoiler but the plot twists at the end were excellent! I wish we had more info on Helaines Dad and Ian to wrap up the story. Well written and researched about a part of history I didn't know about before. 5 stars!!!

London - 1953

Louise is trying to adjust to her new role in life as a wife and mother in post-war England. Her husband, an Army veteran, is valiantly avoiding discussing his years away, and Louise hasn't been entirely upfront about what she did during the war. Working part-time at a local secondhand shop, she comes across a necklace in a box labeled with the name of a Paris department store. What makes this necklace so intriguing is that Louise is positive that she saw it during the war while working for the Red Cross in Europe. And even more important, it is something linking her to her friend Franny who died there under mysterious circumstances.

Hoping to solve the burning question of Franny's death, Louise journeys to Paris to meet up with Ian, a friend she worked with in the Red Cross, and he is also someone she had a brief romance with. Their research includes a visit to Levitan, the name of the store on the box where Louise found the necklace. At the store, now an office building, she discovers that the Nazis used the store as a camp for Jews whose job it was to sort through articles from the homes of fellow Jews, sending the items on to Germany. Louise learns of a young Jewish woman called Helaine who was imprisoned there, and it is apparent that the necklace belonged to her. Her husband had been captured by the Germans.

With every turn, Louise is convinced that there is a link between Helaine, her husband, and Franny's tragic death. But there are so many unanswered questions and a lot of roadblocks thrown up in front of her that Louise wonders just how important this necklace really is.

Based on the true story of Levitan and its use by the Nazis, LAST TWILIGHT IN PARIS is a riveting, page-turning tale with a very interesting finale. It's a Perfect 10 in my eyes.

It looks like I am an outlier. Perhaps my prior knowledge of the Levitan Department Store during WWII was a disadvantage as I read this book. I never found myself fully engaged with the characters. Am I glad I read this? Yes. Did it have the usual impact WWII fiction has on me? Not really. Will I continue to read Pam Jenoff? Of course!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thus is my first time reading anything by this author and I'm so glad I did because the author did amazing job bring to live a part of history I had no idea about and that why I love reading either nonfiction or historical fiction especially if its based on ture events that took place doing WW2 . And even though The Last Twilight in Paris is historical fiction, it brings to live how the Germans went and uesed a department store ( the Lévitan) and turned it a concentration camp in World War II. How they made their Prisoners work there and it also brings to live how one woman wanted to learning more about her friends life and death . It's told in 2 different time periods one doing the WW 2 and one after it ended . It brings to life the Struggles of both of the main character's and how their lives was doing both time lines .

Pam Jenoff is a hit or miss author for me, but Last Twilight in Paris is a hit with an original setting of a department store turned concentration camp in World War II Paris. Sharp readers will piece the connections together easily but will also appreciate a dual timeline story in which one of the protagonists is an “ordinary” 1950s housewife with unresolved issues from her wartime experience. Engaging and highly readable!

Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row for the ARC of Last Twilight in Paris.

Historical fiction, is outside of my comfort zone, however I have to say this book was amazing! I will have to read more of Pam Jenoff in the near future. There were a few things I was not aware that happened during WWII and was surprised. I will definitely be looking to read the books that inspired Jenoff to write this book.

Pub date: February 4th

Thank you once again for the ARC, I got out of my comfort zone!

It took me a bit to really get into this book, but once I did, WOW is all I can say. You have 2 POV- during WW2 and after. I don't want to give any spoilers, If you like historical fiction, give this book a try. I enjoyed everything that I have read from Pam Jenoff. I feel like this is another great book! Thank you Netgalley!

Thank you to Pam Jenoff, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and NetGalley for trusting me with this ARC.

My first read of 2025, and I am not disappointed! What a great read to start off the new year!! You know that feeling after you finish a phenomenal book, where you want to write down your thoughts but just can’t think through them all because you have too many?! That was my feeling after this book! It was so so good!
This book had my attention from the first chapter. It’s amazing how I am so different from the main characters Louise and Helaine but Pam Jenoff wrote them in a way that I felt a connection to them and their stories. I didn’t know about Jews being held prisoner in department stores during the war, and I like how Jenoff included other books to look into if you want to learn the true history.
The point of view switches between Helaine during the war, then to Louise in her current life in 1953, and back to Louise during the war. The mystery of the necklace and what happened during the war to all the characters comes to light gradually through the different points of view. The mystery and wanting to know what happened to the characters was so good I couldn’t put it down!

I will never stop appreciating the level of research Pam Jenoff puts into her books. She captures people, places, and eras with such detail and clarity that I feel fully immersed in the world she's created. I had never heard of the Levitan department store and the way the Nazis transformed it during the war so the history lover in me was thrilled to learn something new.

The story employs alternating perspectives and dual timelines, which I enjoy, but this could be an issue for some. Unlike other books by Jenoff, it took me a bit to really get into the story but once I was in, I couldn't stop reading.

I received an electronic ARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing through NetGalley.
Told in two time frames from two characters' POVs. Helaine is a Jewish woman living in Paris during World War II; Louise is a wife and mother living in the 1950's with flashback memories from her time during WWII also. Both are connected by a piece of jewelry that belonged to Helaine, and Louise remembers seeing while working with the Red Cross in POW camps in Germany.
I appreciate how Jenoff intertwines their stories while providing historical information about their locations and lives. Is it a deep history dive? No, but it offers readers a look at the very real human costs during that tragic time and the aftermath. The book begins slowly and the characters reveal more of themselves as the story progresses. The pace is a bit too slow for my taste but by the end, I was invested in both characters. There are a few twists along the way but the "villain" is obvious from early on.

“Last Twilight in Paris “(arc)
by Pam Jenoff

5⭐️

Such a impactful and powerful story!🥺🩵💛
I haven’t read a historical fiction book in a while and this heartbreaking , yet beautiful story did not disappoint!🩵
This book was set during the pre and post WW2 era , and it’s duel POV’s of two strong women . One who is going through the nightmare of surviving and one who going through the effects of post war trauma.
I really enjoyed reading this book and while this is fiction, the story does parallel some true occurrences. And I did learn some interesting facts about WW2 that I didn’t know before.
This story did leave an impactful mark on me and I highly recommend you check this book out! 🩵💛
Thank you Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC in exchange for honest review.

In the middle of Paris, Nazis imprisoned hundreds of Jewish people in an old department store, where the prisoners sorted through items stolen from Jewish homes to be resold to the German officers.

The story is told from three different POV. Helaine was a Jewish French woman who was imprisoned in Lévitan. Louise was a British woman who volunteered for the Red Cross, first packing care packages and then delivering the packages to POW camps in France and Germany. The third perspective is also Louise, 10 years after the war when she finds a necklace that she feels like she had seen before during the war. She will stop at nothing to find out the story behind the necklace.

At first the different POVs were quite confusing, and the story was slow to progress. But once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down and I finished in in two days. I was not familiar with Lévitan, so this was especially interesting. I would definitely recommend this to those who love WWII historical fiction.

I received a digital ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers.

📖 Book Review 📖

📱 "Last Twilight in Paris" by Pam Jenoff

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Expected publication February 4, 2025

An interesting, a little slow in the beginning story about Paris in WWII.
A rather famous and extremely large Parisian department store Lévitan was turned into a German prison, that housed arrested Jews during the war. The imprisoned Jews sorted through stolen household items taken from Jewish homes when their owners were sent east to concentration camps. The Jewish prisoners were forced to display the
items for Nazi officials to buy. Dual timelines of during WWII and London in 1953 with Louise, a former Red Cross worker trying to figure out life after such misery and mass destruction. When Louise finds a unique necklace in a resale store in England, she swears she remembers this same necklace from her time with the Red Cross during the war in Germany. Louise asks her former boss Ian from the Red Cross for help and opens an entire can of worms. Helaine, the other main character is a young Jewish woman, born and raised with wealth in Paris. She was imprisoned at Lévitan, torn apart from her musician husband when the Germans invaded France. I did not know about the Jewish prison and how the Nazis sold Jewish items to fund the Reich. All the pieces of the story blend seamlessly together in the end and it shows the resilience of humanity.


Thank you @Netgalley and for the digital ARC

#givemeallthebooks #books #letsread #bookfriends #homelibrary
#somanybooks #readsomemore #audiobooks #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #booklover #bookishlove #readersgonnaread #bookishaf

Like all of Pam Jenoff’s books, this was another wonderful read! I love learning and this shared a story about something I didn’t know about WWII in Paris. There are still so many stories that have yet to be told and I hope one day all are brought to light.

Three women figure in this story. Louise, in post-war England, finds a necklace that brings back a wartime experience. One that resulted in the death of her friend, Franny. She decides to go to Paris to investigate. This leads to the Lévitan, a Paris department store for German occupiers staffed by Jewish prisoners. Here is where we find Helaine, the third woman in this story.

Last Twilight in Paris is a thrilling story that starts off in London, 1953. Louise is adapting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before, when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe —and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war. Following clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss and boyfriend Ian. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan—a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France. Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny’s death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan,

Jenoff does a wonderful job creating an inspirational story of resistance during World War II. Last Twilight in Paris had me turning the pages to the very end. This book is an easy 4 stars. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction.

I received a free advanced copy and all opinions are my own. I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC of this novel.

Pam Jenoff's new novel is almost the perfect Historical Fiction to me. It covers a part of WWII that is not well-known, making the story more captivating as I got to learn about something I never knew happened during the war while I was getting to know the beautifully-crafted characters. The switching time and perspective took a minute to get into, but it was worth pushing through the first few chapters to get really immersed and interested in both timelines. The pacing and plot lines are the reason I feel that, although it is a well-crafted story, this book would be best suited for avid readers of the Historical Fiction genre and/or like stories that read as almost character studies.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story, but I think the true magic of the novel is the exploration of two very relatable female characters. I am so eager to read more of Jenoff's work!

4.5/5 Stars!

It took me a minute to get into this book, but when I did, I loved it more page by page. I love Pam Jenoff’s style of writing and, in this book, her untraditional take on presenting a mystery. Set in World War II and the time shortly after the war, this is a tale of hope and fears, unbelief at the horrors of life, and a desire to help and to serve, and then the nightmares once the war is over. I will recommend this very readable and enjoyable book to my friends who enjoy historical fiction, mysteries, and tales of World War II. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

I was thrilled to get this newest book by Pam Jenoff.

The history in this story was just heartbreaking to me. The pain that this war caused is felt by the characters throughout the book and then flows down to the reader. I felt the suspense as Louise took the time and effort to make and find connections that coincided with the lost necklace. She knew she had seen it before, but where/how? I enjoyed this back and forth of her working to figure that out. This was definitely a page turner and I will be reading more Jenoff books in my future.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row for the ARC.

A 4.5*

Last Twilight in Paris is another fantastic and memorable historical fiction by the very talented author Pam Jenoff. She always writes unique stories that grab your attention from the very beginning and deal with aspects of WWII that most readers are unaware of. This book has a dual timeline, going between WWII and 1953. I loved that this story was inspired by true facts.

The book is about a French woman, Helaine who is Jewish and the trials, persecution and hardships she endured during the war. The other timeline is about Louise, am English woman during the war and in 1953. The two women's stories connect over a lost necklace that is found years later. The plot was fast paced and the story's ending had some surprises in it with all the loose ends coming together.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy WWII fiction. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced copy of this novel.