The Paris Promise by Suzanne Kelman ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

Paris, 1943: Keeping her eyes fixed on the Nazi officer, Antoinette slowly reaches under the pillow for the knife hidden there. Her hands are shaking, but she knows what she must do to save her husband and child…

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.  A free book was provided for an honest review.

May 2025; Bookouture; 978-1837905317
audio, ebook, print (372 pages); historical fiction

This is a dual timeline book that focuses on the heroic deeds that one of the main characters performed as part of the Resistance in France during WWII and her granddaughter's quest to find out more about the grandmother that she adored.  In some dual timeline books, it's easy to prefer the story in one time period, but both time periods in The Paris Promise are full of excitement and adventure as both grandmother and granddaughter fight to save their lives and the lives of the people that they love.

The World War II timeline is told through the story of Antoinette.  She is a violinist and is married to Rene, and they have one small child.  Rene is a well-known pianist who teaches at the local Conservatoire and is Jewish.  When the Nazis take all of the Jewish musicians during a performance, Antoinette knows that she must do something to get the love of her life out of danger.  She reluctantly sends her young son to safety outside of Paris and joins the Resistance.  She infiltrates one of the Nazis hotels by playing music for their parties.  While there, she is forced to do things that frightened her, but she knew that whatever she had to do would help save her husband. Antoinette's storyline was very scary as she put her life on the line every day to help the Resistance and to try to reunite her family.

The second timeline takes place in 2012 when Deanna is cleaning out her father's house so he can move to a smaller home.  While cleaning out the attic, she found a violin, and when she had it appraised, she found out that it was a Stradivarius and worth millions of dollars.  She didn't know why this violin was in the attic and why her grandmother had never played it, but she was determined to figure out where it came from.  Her search leads her to South America to an elderly man who worked in the Resistance with her grandmother.  Things begin not to add up, and she has to decide who really is the owner of the violin.

This is a beautifully written and well-researched historical fiction story that looks at family and how their love and strength affect future generations.  

This is a WWII historical fiction that you don't want to miss.

NOTE:  The Paris Promise is book three in a series called The Paris Sisters.  All three books can be read as standalones with no problem.  Here are my reviews of the first two books: The Last Day in Paris and The Bookseller of Paris

Buy The Paris Promise at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction

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