An American soldier and an enterprising photographer brave occupied France during World War II to help give a little girl her dream–a family–in this gripping novel from the bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress.
New York City/Paris, 1942: When American model Jessica May arrives in Europe to cover the war as a photojournalist for Vogue, most of the soldiers are determined to make her … a photojournalist for Vogue, most of the soldiers are determined to make her life as difficult as possible. But three friendships change that. Journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules. Captain Dan Hallworth keeps her safe in dangerous places so she can capture the stories that truly matter. And most important of all, the love of a little orphan named Victorine gives Jess strength to do the impossible. But her success will come at a price…
The Paris Orphan is another well written dual time line book about WWII. It gives us a look at how women photo-journalists were treated during the war. They were not allowed anywhere near the front and were kept from learning about the war or filing their stories in a timely manner. The author has based her main character on Lee Miller, a photo journalist during the war. Be sure to read the Author’s notes at the end of the book to learn more about Lee Miller and the places the author visited to do research for this novel.
This book is well written and well researched with main characters that I won’t soon forget. Along with the main characters, she writes of the horrors of the war and the importance of some of the unsung heroes – the nurses and doctors at the field hospitals as well as the soldiers on the ground – many of them young kids and away from home for the first time. This book is amazing and is in my top 10 of World War II books.
Rich detail, compelling characters, and an interwoven dual timeline make this an engrossing read for historical fiction fans.
This book stayed with me long after I finished reading it. Just beautiful.
Simply beautiful
A wonderful story set in WW2 which will have you turning the page and staying up late. Great characters, vivid descriptions. Have the tissues handy.
Natasha Lester, author of “The Paris Orphan” has written a captivating, intense, intriguing,dramatic.emotional, and powerful novel. There are two timelines in this novel. One is around 1942, and the other is in France in 2005. Both stories and timelines do connect and like pieces of a puzzle connect. The Genre for this story is Historical Fiction. The themes in this story center around World War Two, and the tragedy and turmoil, dark secrets, discrimination, danger, and betrayals. The author discusses the importance of communication, family, friends, love, hope, peace and equality. Natasha Lester describes her dramatic characters as complex and complicated, possibly due to the circumstances of the times. The author vividly writes and describes the characters, landscape, locations, and their emotional feelings.
American model/photographer Jessica May arrives in Europe around 1942, to take pictures and write about the war in Europe. Many of the soldiers give her a difficult time, and she is lucky to meet a few friends. Jessica does make friends with Captain Dan Hallworth who does try to accommodate her needs. Besides being in charge of a large number of men, Captain Hallworth has rescued and is providing care for an orphan named Victorine.
In 2005, D’Arcy Hallworth is offered the opportunity of packing up and assessing the photographs that were done during the war by an artist that prefers to keep their name secretive. These pictures are extremely artistic and show life and death. Little does D’Arcy know how her life will change forever.
I highly recommend this book for readers who appreciate Historical Fiction. I had trouble putting this book down.
Poignant, heartbreaking, and enthralling!
The Paris Orphan is an absorbing, emotive tale predominantly set in France during 1942, as well as 2005, that is told primarily from two different perspectives; Jessica May, a young model turned photojournalist who journeys to Europe to document the real dangers, consequences, and atrocities of war; and Darcy Hallworth, a young art handler who inadvertently stumbles upon a family history littered with secrets and sacrifices while preparing a collection of photographs for an Australian exhibit.
The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are brave, resilient, and determined. And the plot, along with all the seamlessly intertwined subplots, is an impressive blend of drama, mystique, emotion, secrets, love, loss, courage, passion, heartbreak, as well as an insightful look at the struggles faced by female correspondents during WWII, and the importance of friendships.
Overall, The Paris Orphan is a wonderful blend of historical facts and alluring fiction that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the personalities, feelings, and lives of the characters you never want it to end. It is without a doubt one of my favourite novels of the year and is another fine example of Lester’s extraordinary talent as a remarkable researcher and memorable storyteller.
I rarely cry when reading. It takes a very special book to bring forth tears. It takes an exceptional book to bring forth the “ugly cry”. You know the kind, where you are crying so hard you can’t even see to read and have to stop and put it down and go wash your face.
I have not had an “ugly cry” book since Nightingale. I can now say without any reservation that the top place for that type of emotion now belongs to The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester – Author.
I can say without any doubt this book is now at the top of the books read this year about WWII.
I could not put this book down and spent many late hours reading and did not see the ending coming at all. This takes a very deep and well researched look into the women of War II. Nurses, journalists, and even the civilians in war ravaged Europe and what they had to overcome and even forget: living and existing in a world of men. Put this one on your want to read list and stock up on tissues. I would give it a sky of stars if I could.
I have been a big fan of Australian Natasha Lester since reading her historical fiction debut, A Kiss from Mr. Fitzgerald several years ago now.
Since then, she’s become one of the most prolific authors in the genre, releasing a book a year most years.
The Paris Orphan introduces us to former model turned famous wartime photojournalist, Jessica May, as she covers some of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. Stationed in France, Jessica, along with the other female reporters and photographers in her unit, face sexism and discrimination at every turn, as they try to do their job of reporting and documenting the war.
Amongst the hardships and deprivations of the war, Jessica meets and falls in love with the handsome American paratrooper Dan Hallworth, and a tentative romance blossoms.
Running parallel to the wartime plotline is a more modern plotline. In 2005, art gallery curator, D’Arcy Hallworth arrives in France to manage a collection of famous photographs that are due to be shipped over to Australia for an exhibition in Sydney.
During her stay, D’Arcy discovers she has a personal connection to the photographs as long-kept family secrets are revealed. But is it too late to put matters right?
Like all of Lester’s reads, I adored but I did think the modern-day plot wasn’t as strong or as satisfying as the wartime plot, and I would’ve preferred if the entire book was set in the past.
Either way, I really loved it and if you haven’t read any of her books and you’re a fan of historical fiction, I recommend that you do.
Natasha Lester never disappoints and this might be her best work yet.
The Paris Orphan is a meticulously researched piece of historical fiction. Upon reading the Author’s Note, I learned that the fictional character of Jessica May is loosely based on real-life war photojournalist and former model, Lee Miller. There are touches of other real people throughout the book (Martha Gellhorn, Iris Carpenter, Lee Carson) and many of the other characters, descriptions, and events are loosely based on real life. It all comes together to create a book that you can’t put down.
The Paris Orphan is heartbreaking. It is beautiful. It not only touches on the horrors of WWII but also its darker, hidden secrets. It is a must-read.
The “Paris Orphan” was an easy to read WWII historical fiction novel. Lester describes the characters and scenes so vividly you feel their emotions and see where they are and what they’re doing. For a book that starts out with a fairly simple premise, as you continue to read the plot changes again and again. I highly suggest this book if you are at all interested in historical fiction. And it truly is historical since the story is loosely based on a wartime female photojournalist in WWII. Be sure to read the author’s afterword for the facts.
This book was so well written; the characters came to life ! The horrors of war were felt through the eyes of a young female war correspondent and photographer at a time when women were treated as inferior to their male counterparts.
I have read other books about WWII journalists, particularly the female ones fighting to gain equal footholds with the male journalists. This book mirrors the life of Lee Miller with literary license that changed the name and some events to create an alternative fiction. I thought the sections that dealt with the period of WWII to contain exceptional writing, prose really, but the modern period was less enthralling. Even so, I wanted to finish it and appreciate what these brave women did to bring another perspective to war time reporting and photo journalism.
Great book that was very informative.
Moving, but would be much more effective if the behavior of the main characters made sense following the war.
n f
This is an amazing book and easily one of my favorite books of 2019.
This wonderfully written historical novel is told from two different perspectives in two time periods, Europe in WWII and France in 2005. It’s about two independent women, strong and outspoken, passionate and talented. A beautiful Vogue model goes to Europe as a talented photo journalist to document the realities of war in Europe and must deal with the Army’s infuriatingly sexist restrictions. Sixty years later a young Australian art handler is commissioned to curate a collection of famous photos, many from WWII. Secrets are revealed, but not in the way you expect. This is a memorable story of women during WWII, inspired by the real life experiences of women correspondents Lee Miller, Martha Gellhorn, and Iris Carpenter, among several others. Thanks to the Book Club Cookbook and publisher Hachette Book Group for an Advanced Reading copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.
Absolutely a wonderful story!
Natasha Lester does not disappoint. This is one of my favorite books of the year. Lester’s voice is realistic and moving. Fans of historical fiction should consider this a must read.
For me, the best part of reading this book was learning what it was like for a solo woman photojournalist to cover World War II. Jessica May, a former model, must overcome restrictions, discrimination, harassment, and sexism — yet still manages to provide exceptional photojournalism despite all those odds. But May’s difficulties (experienced by other historical women journalists like Martha Gellhorn Margaret Bourke-White, and Lee Miller) provide just one of the book’s story lines.
This was a captivating story. May witnessed battles, visited field hospitals, was present during the liberation of a concentration camp, and covered the Nuremberg Trials. But, not surprisingly, women journalists covered other important aspects of the war that male journalists generally ignored. Like the war’s impact on the psyches of both soldiers and women, widespread rape by soldiers representing all armies, and the devastating effects of shortages, destruction, and violence on children. These women told the story of war from a vantage point far beyond dates, battles, and numbers of dead.
The second storyline, set in 2005, focuses on D’Arcy Hallworth, a thirtyish Australian art conservator whose job puts her in contact with the works of Jessica May, a journalism pioneer D’Arcy admires greatly. Natasha Lester alternates between these two stories — until, not surprisingly, we figure out that there’s a hidden and much closer connection between Hallworth and May.
My criticism of this novel centers around the last quarter of it. Plots became unbelievably convoluted and the author appeared to be overly determined to include happy endings for nearly EVERY character. For me, that turned this novel from a worthwhile examination of brave women trying to shed light on a brutal episode in history into something much more fluffy, romantic and way too contrived.
Strange coincidence, though. When I picked this book up to read I did not realize Lester based the story of Jessica May loosely on the experiences of World War II photojournalist Lee Miller. I had not heard of Miller until VERY recently, when I happened to read another novel based on her life, THE AGE OF LIGHT by Whitney Sharer. Until I figured out the connection in the subject matter, I couldn’t understand why THIS book was SO much like another I’d just finished.