The Last Restaurant in Paris: Completely heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 fiction

Product Information

If you’re looking for an uplifting, inspiring story set in World War II, featuring a strong female lead, this is the book for you.

You wouldn't necessarily come to this boulevard that runs from the Paris Garnier opera house for dinner, but Carrie Solomon and Nicolas Pastot, the clan behind the Montecito restaurant at the Kimpton Hotel, have put this area of the city on the map. Sabine, her adult granddaughter and in receipt of an unexpected inheritance, knows nothing of her grandmother’s past but with the help of someone who was closer to Marianne than she, sets out to discover why Marianne’s memory is so reviled and what exactly took place that fateful evening. Because of the passage of time, there was no guarantee she would find all the answers but all the way through I was hoping that somehow she would discover her grandmother’s incredible story. I would like to thank @netgalley and @Bookoutune and author @LilyGraham, for a copy of this book. This is my second book from Lily Graham. The entire, extensive cast of multi-faceted characters are wonderfully drawn and developed. Whilst they are all, by necessity of circumstances, often complex and emotional, volatile and passionate; they are addictively genuine, believable and authentic to the roles which have been created for them. Although Marianne is portrayed as someone with a strong sense of purpose, high moral fibre and an advocate for doing the right thing, I’m still not certain I can correlate that she allowed those beliefs to override the overwhelming desire she had shown to bear a child for Jacques, a daughter who she may now never see grow into a young lady, should her plans go wildly askew. The profound complexity of her motivations and the vying raw emotions she was experiencing, must surely, have somewhat coloured her judgement? Her fate and her bravery in accepting the inevitable price she knew she had to pay was never in question, however, the true actions of her crime (if ever there was one), are known only to one other living person, who has held their counsel and would have taken the knowledge to their grave had circumstances so dictated.Elodie had also befriended the nuns of the local Abbey, particularly Sister Augustine, who is her constant support and confidante, up to and beyond the time of her death, right into the current day, when she is pivotal to Gilbert and Sabine’s search for answers and closure. Can she shine a light on the woman who was Sabine’s grandmother, Marianne Blanchet and restore the good name of a once loved and respected mentor and friend for Gilbert? I marvel at authors who can still be inspired to write diverse, unique and interesting storylines in the world of WWII fiction, however, Lily takes things to a whole new level with this compelling saga. No! It wasn’t perfect, there were a couple of typos and other anomalies…

The Last Restaurant in Paris is a unique World War II novel set in Paris about a woman name Marianne Blanchet who is accused of poisoning a number of Nazi soldiers and a couple of Parisians at her restaurant one evening (that was closed to the public to entertain special guests). The question on everyone’s mind is: was it an accident or deliberate? And, if the latter, what was her motive? How could she take such a risk— especially considering the consequences? The story explores the reasons and their effects on everyone connected to her. It is a battlefield of emotions. A moral dilemma. Is she a ‘traitor and murderer’ as the words state, scratched on the windows of her restaurant? The community despised her because they believed she was a collaborator of the enemy.

Advance Praise

What happened in 1943 on the last night Luberon was open? This tragic event changed many lives forever. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.