Hope comes in different ways! A World War II novel.

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The Postmistress of Paris by Meg Waite Clayton    

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️       



Fascinating story inspired by American heiress Mary Jane Gold, Nanée is a wealthy young woman caught up in efforts to help artists and intellectuals to escape France during WWII. Nanée, whom many saw as an eccentric, is a pilot, a focused individual. She’s determined, a person who just rolls up her sleeves and gets on with the task.
There’s the heady energy of various artistic and intellectual giants such as André Breton, as the Nazis march towards Paris. I loved the description of Nanée flying into Paris for a Surrealist exhibition, adding further to the illustration that Nanée is an original who charts her own path. I smiled at the image of her next to her plane with her dog Dagobert as she, “dug out a reliable old black Chanel dress and pulled it over her head, slipped her blouse off underneath, and let the silk fall into place over her leather flight pants. Better. Not warmer, but better. She added her flight jacket again, for warmth. Could she just wear the leather pants and boots with the dress? It was a Surrealist exhibit, after all.“
This gives us an idea of the person who helps artists to escape the Nazi regime, of her doggedness, her commitment to the cause.
Nanée’s meeting at the exhibition with photographer Edouard Moss and his daughter Luki is just the beginning of a chain of events that sweep them and us along in the upheaval of these times.

A Harper ARC via NetGalley 
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change

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