The Paris Dressmaker

Author: Kristy Cambron

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: February 16, 2021

Cambron shines with her new well researched release of the Women of Paris!

Germans have occupied France and Paris life is changing.  Madison Chanel has been closed and many of the dressmakers employed there are now without a job, including Lila de Laurent.  She finds a job with Nina Ricci and is summoned one day to the Ritz hotel where she meets her past friend and fellow seamstress from Chanel’s, Amelie.  Amelie is destined to climb the social ladder and has taken up with the Nazi soldiers to elevate her status and offers Lila the opportunity to develop her own dresses for the girls staying at the hotel.  Lila is drawn to the possibility of working there for the resistance as she can access documents left in the hotel rooms, especially if she can find information on her lost love Rene Touliard.  When one of her operations goes wrong, she must flee if she wants to live.

Sandrine Paquet has been ordered to work for the Nazi regime categorizing art pieces stolen from their Jewish owners.  She does what she can for her young son and mother-in-law, but hates being viewed as a collaborator when she has no choice.  With her husband unaccounted for at war, she finds an opportunity to work quietly in the resistance to keep records of where the art is being shipped so that it can one day be returned.  When she is called in to look at a dress, a Chanel gown no less, she discovers a message hidden within the seam hastily placed there by a dressmaker who had vanished from the social elite of the Ritz hotel.

As always, Cambron delivers a stunning work of historical fiction set within occupied France during the second world war.  This is a bit of a deviation from her typical time slip novels, but still had two terrific stories that were interwoven together and destined to collide.  She does such a great job of bringing little known history (at least in America) to life with her characters that makes readers go research the actual events for themselves.  With intrigue, mystery, loss, sympathy, and action throughout, readers can’t help but be engaged throughout the entire story. 

If you’ve never read a book by Cambron, this is a fantastic one to start with.  Grab a copy and pull up by the fire because you won’t want to get up until you’ve finished! I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.