A Week in Paris by Rachel Hore
This book also counts towards the Bookish Lifestyle's 2016 TBR Pile Reading Challenge. Simon & Schuster (paperback), 2014480 Pages
I read this book for the Popsugar Reading Challenge 2016. I'm doing the challenge in category order. This is my book for the 'a book set in Europe' category.
The streets of Paris hide a dark past...September, 1937. Kitty Travers enrols at the Conservatoire on the banks of the Seine to pursue her dream of becoming a concert pianist. But then war breaks out and the city of light falls into shadow. Nearly twenty-five years later, Fay Knox, a talented young violinist, visits Paris on tour with her orchestra. She barely knows the city, so why does it feel so familiar? Soon touches of memory become something stronger, and she realises her connection with these streets runs deeper than she ever expected. As Fay traces the past, with only an address in an old rucksack to help her, she discovers dark secrets hidden years ago, secrets that cause her to question who she is and where she belongs...A compelling story of war, secrets, family and enduring love.
She was a scrappy wisp of a girl who lived with forty-three other children in a large ugly house on the edge of a country town.
A Week in Paris isn't the sort of book I usually read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sometimes I just need to take a break from serial killers.
The book is set in Paris and some sections take place during the Second World War. The setting is perfect. Paris is rich, vibrant, alive and hugely real. I felt like I was really there, seeing the sights of Paris, especially during wartime and the people and sounds were so vivid I could almost touch and smell them. I've been to Paris and love the city so felt a little thrill every time I recognised somewhere. I really liked the characters. They aren't the best fictional characters every written but they are all very likable. Fay was my favourite - she was so lovely it was hard not to like her. She's the kind of girl you could be best friends with and hug in the street. What about the plot? I enjoyed the dark secrets from Fay and Kitty's past a lot more than the love story. Poor Fay had a lot to take in with all the revelations and discovering how many lies she'd been told all her life. Give the girl a hug!
A Week in Paris is very good and made a nice change from the darker stuff I usually read. I wouldn't read this sort of fiction all the time but it's good to wash the blood off now and then.
