The Last Fashion House in Paris

De: Renee Ryan

Narrado por: Hope Newhouse, Gilli Messer, Jane Oppenheimer

In the heart of occupied WWII Paris, an elegant fashion house is the unlikely headquarters of a daring resistance network. Behind closed doors, courageous women vie to save loved ones and strangers alike from the Nazis in this powerful story of survival, friendship and second chances.

France, 1942

Once, Paulette Leblanc spent her days flirting, shopping and drawing elegant dresses in her sketch pad. Then German tanks rolled into France, and a reckless romance turned into deep betrayal. Blaming herself for her mother’s arrest by the Gestapo, Paulette is sent away to begin a new life in Paris, working as apprentice to fashion designer Sabine Ballard.

But Maison de Ballard is no ordinary fashion house. While seamstresses create the perfect couture gowns, clandestine deals and secrets take place out of sight. Mademoiselle Ballard is head of a vast network of resistance fighters—including Paulette’s coworker and friend Nicolle Cadieux—who help escort downed military men and Jewish families to safety.

Soon Paulette is recruited as a spy. Working as a seamstress by day, gathering information at glamorous parties by night, Paulette at last has a chance to earn the redemption she craves. But as the SS closes in, and Nicolle goes missing, Paulette must make life-and-death decisions about who to trust, who to love and who to leave behind…

©2024 Renee Ryan (P)2024 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

outstanding!

I read it over weekend and is especially happy to see the interweaving of characters from other books, especially Paulette.

intriguing

It's hard to put this book down. Always keeps one anxious to know what's next.

One of the best I’ve read!

I loved the story the detail, the side stories its amazing. The characters in the book are daring, funny and by the of the book it makes you think of the time and all the things they did.

The Answers are in the Future

Forward moving, well put together, well developed characters. Well researched history of the subject & time frame of the events

So good

This audio was so good. Filled with so much and excellent narrators. It was done exceptionally well. I shed many tears listening to this book. I loved it and feel historically we all need to know what happened during this time. We do not want it to ever happen again.

Paulette’s Story

I liked the images that Renee Ryan creates with her different characters. Who is a friend and who is an enemy…

The willingness to put thier lives on the line for friends and stangers

The perseverance of will, strength, and hanging on to their humanity. Thank you for the insight!

Description of dresses

No dislikes, I found the women’s description of the dresses intriguing so much so I could picture them in my mind.

Major Disappointment

This was a sappy, love story with obvious plot lines and unimaginative dialogue (She steeled herself, stole her breath, all the way to her bones, etc.) The story is filled with obvious cliches. Absolutely no depth to the story or the characters. There are so many better WWII historical fiction novels.
The narration for the character Paulette was more than annoying - her shaky, halting voice was distracting and over-dramatic. The male voices were so bad, especially the crime boss. Horrible.
I got sucked into this from the reviews. If the author was going for a syrupy, love story, she nailed it. The whole story was predictable and just a major disappointment.