While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart

 

While Paris Slept by Ruth Druart.

Published 4th March 2021 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

On a platform in occupied Paris, a mother whispers goodbye. It is the end. But also the beginning...

Beautiful. Powerful. Unforgettable. A stunning portrait of the brutality of war and the tenacity of love. In the tradition of Virginia Baily's Early One Morning and M. L. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans.

Santa Cruz 1953. Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door.

Paris 1944. A young woman's future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope.

On a darkened platform two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined.

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Our story begins in 1953, where Jean-Luc, Charlotte and their son, Sam, have settled into their version of the American Dream after their flight from war-torn Paris. But their peace is shattered by a knock at the door that exposes a secret they have been hiding since 1944.

We are then plunged into occupied Paris of 1944, where fate brings together a young railway worker, called Jean-Luc, pressed into working for the Nazi's, and a desperate mother, called Sarah, on her way to almost certain death. In a split second, this mother makes the hardest of choices, pressing her baby into his hands with the words "Please, take my baby! His name's Samuel.". 

What follows is a dual timeline:  following the flight of Jean-Luc and his fiance, Charlotte, out of France in 1944, with a tiny baby who becomes their own - while Samuel's parents are transported to an uncertain fate in Auschwitz; and a tug of love fight in 1953 to decide the fate of a child who knows nothing of his real parents and considers himself wholly American.

This is a powerful and heart-breaking story that will hit you with a profound emotional punch. Many of the scenes described from the 1944 part of the tale are difficult to read, with unflinching details of the horrors of war, and the hard decisions associated with survival. The 1953 elements are also full of their own brand of cruelties and trauma that tug mercilessly at your heartstrings. But both parts of the tale are also filled with moments of love, the strength of the human spirit and the bonds of family that tie people together.

This is definitely a book that requires you to invest fully in both sides of the story, but there were times when I felt swayed in my allegiance, and I was not entirely sure whether this was intentional or not. I would have liked to have seen more of Sarah and David's experiences both during and after the war so I could get to know them better. Although Ruth Druart rightly says in her Acknowledgements that this is not what the story is really about, I needed to know more to fully understand their own difficult choices.

There is so much in this beautifully written and compelling debut to admire. The strong themes of love, loss, what it means to be a parent, cultural identity and moral dilemmas are fathomless and Druart explores them artfully as she weaves her threads through time. The war time scenes are particularly impressive, and Druart's descriptions of the horrors Jean-Luc sees during his time at Dracy are incredibly raw and emotive. I also have to say that I don't think I have read anything before that examines quite as well the tenuous line between what collaboration and the acts one is forced to perform in order to survive might look like to outside eyes.

I will finish with a powerful quote from my favourite character of Draurt's, Jean-Luc, which sums up the sentiment of this novel for me. "I think we always have a choice. It's just that it's a difficult one sometimes."

While Paris Slept in available to buy now in hardback, e-book and audio formats from your favourite book retailer now.

Thank you to Louise Swanell at Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Ruth Druart grew up on the Isle of Wight, moving away at the age of eighteen to study psychology at Leicester University. 

She has lived in Paris since 1993, where she has followed a career in teaching.

She has recently taken a sabbatical, so that she can follow her dream of writing full-time.