As a dedicated Francophile, A WEEK IN
PARIS by Rachel Hore was a delightful choice for me. Historical
fiction is my favorite genre and there is no locale I enjoy more than Gay
Paris! This is a well researched historical saga about a mother and her
daughter during the years of 1937-1961. It is a journey of discovery
filled with love, loss, secrets, sacrifices, memories, and mysteries with
most of the action taking place in Paris.
Kitty Travers is sent to Paris from England to study piano at the
Conservatoire, the famous Parisian music college. She lives at the St.
Cecelia's Convent as a boarder while she is studying there. Kitty meets
an American doctor, Eugene Knox, who works at the American Hospital.
They fall in love, get married, and have a daughter, Fay. When tragedy
strikes the family, Kitty is arrested and questioned by the Gestapo,
ultimately being sent to prison, and then to an internment camp, one
that was made look like it was abiding by international law. Even though
she was in a room with its own bathroom, barbed wire and strict rules
keep her and the other inhabitants imprisoned...
Years later, Fay is nineteen and has been invited to play violin with her
orchestra in Paris. Her unwell mother is not pleased with these plans
but instructs he daughter to take one of her old backpacks with her.
Fay discovers an old dress with a torn card reading St. Cecelia's
Convent. Slowly but surely, Fay begins to investigate her mother's past,
her father's death, and things about her childhood. While in the City of
Light, Fay has her own adventures in love, finding herself, and
discovering more about her parents. The ending is filled with joy and
hope.
I loved the musical theme that ran through this novel, which was a
special addition to a story filled with graphic descriptions of how
people coped with fear, danger and kept pushing on to a new day and
finally freedom. I could not put this book down and Rachel Hore gets
my best recommendation as a sterling storyteller. Bravo!
When talented young violinist Fay Knox arrives in Paris from
England, the city feels familiar to her. But not because Fay
has visited Paris before. Back home, she finds an old canvas
bag with a mysterious luggage tag hidden in her mother's old
trunk, and soon starts to realize her connection with the
streets of Paris runs deeper than she ever imagined. As Fay
traces the past, she is taken back to 1937 Paris - and the
eve of a war that changed her mother's life forever. When
she discovers a dark secret buried years ago, Fay begins to
question who she really is and where she belongs.
Filled with romance, family secrets, and the allure of
Paris, Rachel Hore's A Week in Paris is the
compelling story of two women living in two very different
worlds who share far more than a passion for music.
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