It’s 1939. Paris has fallen—but the resistance has only just begun . . .World-famous Maison Chanel has closed its doors, and seamstress Lila de Laurent is one of thousands of Paris fashion workers left jobless as couture houses buckle under the weight of impending war. The sole provider for aging parents and one of millions fearing the Nazi regime, Lila makes the fateful decision to remain in the city.As Nazi soldiers invade the streets, the city of lights slips into dark desperation. Yet in hidden corners, the women who call themselves Les Parisiennes defy Hitler the only way they know how—with fashion.By 1944 Sandrine Paquet is intent on surviving the Nazi occupation. Under close watch of the Vichy government, she is forced to use her position as a storehouse secretary to aid the crumbling Nazi regime in the theft of priceless works of art in exchange for information—anything that might tell the fate of her husband who went missing in the first dark days of war. But when a mysterious crate arrives at the Jeu de Paume from a woman who vanished within the Paris fashion elite years before, Sandrine is drawn into a web of deceit that will test her convictions and reveal the lengths to which she’ll go to remain loyal to those she loves.From fashion to desperation and haute couture to the perils of humanity, The Paris Dressmaker weaves a story of two worlds colliding years apart—where satin and lace stand between life and death in the brutal underbelly of a war-torn world.
Strong women resist the Nazi occupation of Paris
The Paris Dressmaker is a compelling story exploring the courageous actions of Parisienne women during the German occupation of the city in World War 2. While a fictionalised account, the story is inspired by actual events and features a couple of supporting characters who existed in the real world.
Lila de Laurent is the eponymous dressmaker, employed by the house of Chanel prior to the war, but she and her friend Amelié lose their jobs when their boss, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel elects to close down the business for the duration of the war. The two women must find a way to survive the years ahead, and choose very different ways of doing so.
Meanwhile, art historian Sandrine Paquet must farewell her beloved husband, Christian, as he heads off to the front. She remains in Paris with their young son and her parents-in-law, and is employed by the Nazi overlords to help sort and catalogue stolen artworks before they're shipped to Germany for the Fuhrer's collection. Unfortunately, she's caught the attention of her Nazi supervisor, Captain Von Hiller, and struggles to avoid his unwanted advances without placing herself and her family in even greater danger.
Over the course of the story, both women become involved in La Résistance, the famed underground network of French patriots who work to undermine and, ultimately, overthrow the German oppressors. A stunning haute couture Chanel gown from 1938 links their two stories.
The setting, during the Nazi occupation of Paris, certainly provides a high-tension backdrop, in which "ordinary" people endured incredible hardship and were called upon to carry out extraordinary actions of courage and patriotism. I found both Lila and Sandrine's stories compelling and, on occasion, nerve-wracking. It's evident that Kristy Cambron has based her narrative on a great deal of historical research.
However, I felt that the book was over-long at 400 pages, and that the two separate character storylines, with back-and-forth timeframes in both made this an unnecessarily complicated reading experience. Either story would, in my opinion, have alone provided sufficient material and interest upon which to base a novel, and I wonder whether The Paris Dressmaker might have been more successful as a pair of interrelated titles. The links between the two stories are sufficiently minor that the narrative arc wouldn't suffer unduly.
My other concern relates to the cover design, which I note several reviewers have commented initially attracted them to the book. It is an attractive design, and the dress is undeniably beautiful, but to me seems anachronistic, more consistent with 1950s Chanel designs than those of 1938.
I found The Paris Dressmaker to be an intriguing read, and would recommend it to those who enjoy fact-based historical fiction and strong female protagonists.
My thanks to the author, Kristy Cambron, publisher Thomas Nelson, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.
Sarah, 24/03/2021
