The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris: from an exciting new voice in historical fiction comes a gripping and emotional novel

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Thank you Net Galley and HarperCollins for a complimentary copy of this novel! This novel has dual timelines, switching between 2022 and WW2 (1940s). In 2022, Juliette and Andrew are in holiday in Paris. Juliette’s grandmother was from Paris and had been there at the time of WW2. Her grandmother had left behind a painting and Juliette was determined to find its significance. While visiting in Paris, Juliette discovers her husband Andrew was having an affair, so he ends up returning to the states. Juliette remains in Paris to explore her family’s past. Then the German Army arrives. Paris falls. Life for these two people will never be the same. Mathilde is a firebrand. She wants to resist. Mild mannered Jacques is terribly afraid of her getting into trouble with the Nazis. He doesn’t want to lose her. As time passes, Mathilde must leave Paris for her misbehavior. Fortunately a German officer who has been haunting the bookstore gets her a pass to the south of France. But trouble follows her. Bookstores and libraries were her spiritual home, so quiet and calm and full of knowledge - and now here was the ghost of a bookstore on her doorstep.’ This is a wonderful novel. I especially liked the descriptions about Mathilde and Jacques. Their story is filled with hope and is heartbreaking at the same time. The book is brilliantly written. The reader is transported in time to wartime Paris. The fear of the citizens, the “disappearing” Jewish people and the strength of the human spirit to hope and resist in the face of terrible odds. Juliette and her husband Kevin have traveled from America to France for a much needed holiday. Juliette’s grandmother Marie was French and she moved to America after the end of the Second World War. Kevin can’t wait to return home, Juliette discovers why, she decides to stay in Paris and investigate her grandmothers mysterious past.

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In 1940 Paris, Jacques and Mathilde had just gotten married as WW2 broke out. Jacques owns a bookshop, while Mathilde works at an art gallery. Eventually, with Germans taking over Paris, the art gallery closes and Mathilde is without a job. Jacques keeps up with the shop, as both secretly aid in the war. Soon, however, Mathilde must escape for her safety. Will Jacques and Mathilde ever see each other again? How does Juliette presently tie in with the history of Jacques and Mathilde? There are secrets to be discovered!!! She finds an apartment above a Bookshop, and she decides that she wants to restore the shop and sell books again against the owners 97-year-old Grandmothers wishes. She doesn’t want the past to be dug up. It was 2022 when Juliette and Andrew arrived in Paris for a holiday from the US. Juliette's grandmother had been born in the city of love and lived through the war years, although she wouldn't talk about it before she died. The painting which had been such a big part of her life was now Juliette's and she was determined to find the little square depicted. After Juliette discovered a hidden secret, Andrew returned to the US, leaving Juliette to search for her roots - that history was to be a big part of her life, especially when she found a derelict old store for sale, in the square she'd been drawn to. Juliette decided to renovate and re-open the old store, calling it The Forgotten Bookshop The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris is a story of love and courage, sacrifice and surrender. It’s a tale of heartbreak and hope as the two lead characters from both timelines are on a journey of self discovery. I highly recommend it as I found it a moving and memorable story.This is a bit of a dual storyline with part in 1940's Paris during WWII and part in 2022 Paris. It centers around a bookshop in a Paris square. This is a beautiful read that is set in two time zones of 1940 after the invasion of France and present day with Juliette and husband Kevin. The couple live in an apartment a couple of floors above the bookshop, under the close scrutiny of Madame Bourdain and they don’t know if they can trust her? Mathilde finds living under German occupation difficult, the Gestapo are watching her movements and she has to flee Paris.

Yes it is…Jacques and his wife lived in that very apartment above the bookshop while Jacques kept the peace with the Germans by selling books to an officer, but his wife Mathilde was in the resistance and got herself in trouble. Juliette needed a place to stay and found an apartment above a bookstore and decided to restore the bookstore even though a friend’s grandmother ZiZi who is 97 told her to not dig up the past.I wanted to love this book, but for me it was a complete letdown. Juliette in the present timeline was a character I could care less about and her double standards and whining annoyed me to no end. Her story honestly made me want to DNF the book. The past timeline was better than the present, but it didn’t have much of a wow factor and was actually quite bland. I didn’t connect with the characters like I wanted to. Why did the present timeline bother me this much? Well, it's not only that I hadn't mentally prepared myself for the contemporary romance part, but it was also the content of this storyline itself. I'm sorry, but I didn't sign up for a story about an extremely irritating woman whining about her husband being a cheat and a bastard, and then disrespecting the history and people of 'her square' just because she thinks its her destiny to reopen the bookshop. To make things worse, after she is being cheated on (something the story doesn't let us forget), she actually oggles a man who she KNOWS has a girlfriend?!?! Double standards indeed. It's safe to say that I STRONGLY disliked Juliette's character, and she was one of the reasons I came close to DNFing this story. Books are important to save but so are people. Everyone has a story to tell and what a great one ours will be when all this is over." The two past and present storylines meld together in a surprising mystery. Included are the tragedies of WWII with the Nazi occupation of Paris and Daisy does a superb job of telling not only the love story of Jacque and Mathilde but also his evolution throughout this experience. The contemporary tale, whilst a well worn trope of marriage breakdown and moving to a new country for rediscovery is well used, with the addition of setting up a bookstore and discovering family heritage, Daisy does a solid job of it. All up is a poignant tale told from many aspects with engaging characters and tribulations to overcome.