The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris
Daisy Wood
Until the end, when the two finally come together, this is really two completely different storylines connected only by a specific location.
In 1940, war is closing in on the city of Paris. When the Germans take over the city, Jacques and Mathilde have only been married for a short time. Itching to resist in whatever way she can, Mathilde soon puts herself at risk and must flee to safety in the south of France while Jacques stays behind and continues to operate his beloved bookstore, La Page Cachée. Hiding first banned books, and then people seeking refuge and a way to escape the city, in a hidden storeroom in his shop, Jacques too becomes involved in the resistance.
In 2022, Juliette, whose deceased grandmother was born in Paris, and her husband, Kevin, take a long awaited trip to the city of love. Armed only with a photograph of a painting that used to hang in her grandmother’s house in America, Juliette searches for and locates the small city square depicted in the painting. Discovering that her husband has been having an affair, she decides to stay behind in Paris and forge a new life for herself. There she finds passion and purpose in purchasing a small abandoned bookstore on the square that appeared in her grandmother’s painting, renovating it, and opening The Forgotten Bookshop.
I loved this book! Partially, perhaps, because I’ve always thought that if I was ever to open a business, it would be a bookstore, but also because I became completely engrossed in both storylines. Each time the book switched from past to present or vice versa, I was almost disappointed because I was so captivated by whichever story I was reading at the moment! Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, the well-researched wartime story with its very believable characters could easily stand alone. The modern story was a little more cliched, but until the very end, it kept me wondering how the two storylines would come together.
Daisy Wood has written several works of historical fiction for children and this is her second adult novel. As soon as I finished it, I ordered her first, The Clockmaker’s Wife, from the library. While The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris is my favourite of the two, I enjoyed that one too.
Geertruida (Truus) Wijsmuller, a childless member of the Dutch resistance, risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany to the nations that will take them. It is a mission that becomes even more dangerous after Hitler’s annexation of Austria when, across Europe, countries begin to close their borders to the growing number of refugees desperate to escape. After Britain passes a measure to take in at-risk child refugees from the German Reich, Tante Truus, as she is known by the children, dares to approach Adolf Eichmann, the man who would later help devise the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” and is granted permission to escort a trainload of 600 children (not 599 or 601, but exactly 600) out of the country. In a race against time, 600 children between the ages of 4 and 17 are registered, photographed, checked by medical doctors and put on board the train to begin a perilous journey to an uncertain future abroad. Thus begins the famous Kindertransport system that went on to transport thousands of children out of various parts of Europe during the Nazi occupation of the region in the late 1930s, immediately prior to the official start of World War II.
In 2003, Morris, was introduced to Lale Sokolov, an elderly gentleman who “might just have a story worth telling”. As their friendship grew, Lale entrusted her with the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust. She originally wrote his story as a screenplay before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
In The Tattooist of Auschwitz, we are introduced to Cilka, a beautiful young prisoner who is forcibly separated from the other women by Johann Schwarzhuber, camp commandant, for his exclusive use. Quickly learning that her survival depends on it, she does what she has to do to stay alive. Although both books are historical novels, Cilka, like Lale, was a real person and at one point, he credits her with saving his life.
My mother was 17 when WWII broke out on September 1, 1939 and 23 when it ended six years later. I remember her telling me about how fashions changed during the war. Shortages and efforts to conserve precious materials for the war effort brought about shorter hemlines and more streamlined silhouettes in women’s suits and dresses. Decorative elements disappeared, resulting in a more classic style. For men, single-breasted suits replaced double-breasted, lapels narrowed, and trousers were no longer made with cuffs. There were even restrictions on the number of pockets a garment could have. 
Following Augustine 