"Until Leaves Fall in Paris," by Sarah Sundin
Paris, 1940
When the Nazis march toward Paris, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. The Germans make it difficult for her to keep Green Leaf Books afloat. And she must keep the store open if she is to continue aiding the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.
Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. But in order to carry out his mission, he must appear to support the occupation--which does not win him any sympathy when he meets Lucie in the bookstore.
In a world turned upside down, will love or duty prevail?
I am not a big reader of WW II themed books, but will have to say I really enjoyed this one. I think this is Sarah's best book so far. It set off at a fast pace and didn't slow down throughout the book. It was a very easy story to follow and it was a page turner of a story.
The heroism of the people during that period of time was unbelievable. Paul letting everyone believe he was aiding the German's when in truth he wasn't was a sacrifice that many people would have had to make.
His daughter brought a bright spark/light to the story, reflecting on how innocent she was. I loved the "rock monsters," analogy. Lucie and Paul made great leading characters in the book.
Stars out of 5 : 5 I had to know what happened next; therefore I read it over a couple of days. If I hadn't been busy with other things I would have read it in a full day it was that good of a book. Well worth the read in my opinion. Read the author's notes at the end of the book, they are always interesting.
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
