Book Review for Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff

 

Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff

Published:  February 4, 2025 by Park Row

Genre:  Historical Fiction, WWII

Taken from Goodreads:  A Parisian department store, a mysterious necklace and a woman’s quest to unlock a decade-old mystery are at the center of this riveting novel of love and survival, from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff

London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe —and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war.

Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss Ian, with whom she shares a romantic history. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan—a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France.

Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny’s death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan, Last Twilight in Paris is both a gripping mystery and an unforgettable story about sacrifice, resistance and the power of love to transcend in even the darkest hours.

My Thoughts:  I love WWII era books.  Last Twilight in Paris is a unique look at Lévitan, a story that held prisoners in Paris.  The dual timelines were perfect for this story and I love the twist…never saw it coming but I should have.  

As with most WWII books, this book is a story of the strength of not giving up, enduring the horrors of war, and surviving by any means you can.   I felt connected to the characters and invested in both storylines.   I enjoyed Louise’s story and the fact that she felt the need to find the answers she was looking for, she also kept in mind her family and their needs.  Helaine’s story is about a woman who followed her heart and I was hopeful that all would work out for her.  

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet Pam Jenoff(taken from her website):  Pam Jenoff was born in Maryland and raised outside Philadelphia. She attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Cambridge University in England. Upon receiving her master’s in history from Cambridge, she accepted an appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The position provided a unique opportunity to witness and participate in operations at the most senior levels of government, including helping the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims secure their memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, observing recovery efforts at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing and attending ceremonies to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of World War II at sites such as Bastogne and Corregidor.

Following her work at the Pentagon, Pam moved to the State Department. In 1996 she was assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. It was during this period that Pam developed her expertise in Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. Working on matters such as preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland, Pam developed close relations with the surviving Jewish community.

Pam left the Foreign Service in 1998 to attend law school and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She worked for several years as a labor and employment attorney both at a firm and in-house in Philadelphia and now teaches law school at Rutgers.

Pam is the NYT bestselling author of Code Name Sapphire, The Woman With The Blue Star, The Lost Girls of Paris, The Orphan’s Tale, The Kommandant’s Girl, The Diplomat’s Wife, The Ambassador’s Daughter, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach, The Winter Guest, The Things We Cherished, Almost Home, and A Hidden Affair. She also authored short stories in the anthology Grand Central: Original Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion and in the Blaze collection for Amazon Original Stories. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband, three children, dog, two cats, lizard and bird.