Book Review: "All the Ways We Said Goodbye" by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
“All the Ways We Said Goodbye" by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
Synopsis: France, 1914. As war breaks out, Aurelie becomes trapped on the wrong side of the front with her father, Comte Sigismund de Courcelles. When the Germans move into their family’s ancestral estate, using it as their headquarters, Aurelie discovers she knows the German Major’s aide de camp, Maximilian Von Sternburg. She and the dashing young officer first met during Aurelie’s debutante days in Paris. Despite their conflicting loyalties, Aurelie and Max’s friendship soon deepens into love, but betrayal will shatter them both, driving Aurelie back to Paris and the Ritz— the home of her estranged American heiress mother, with unexpected consequences.
France, 1942. Raised by her indomitable, free-spirited American grandmother in the glamorous Hotel Ritz, Marguerite “Daisy” Villon remains in Paris with her daughter and husband, a Nazi collaborator, after France falls to Hitler. At first reluctant to put herself and her family at risk to assist her grandmother’s Resistance efforts, Daisy agrees to act as a courier for a skilled English forger known only as Legrand, who creates identity papers for Resistance members and Jewish refugees. But as Daisy is drawn ever deeper into Legrand’s underground network, committing increasingly audacious acts of resistance for the sake of the country—and the man—she holds dear, she uncovers a devastating secret . . . one that will force her to commit the ultimate betrayal, and to confront at last the shocking circumstances of her own family history.
France, 1964. For Barbara “Babs” Langford, her husband, Kit, was the love of her life. Yet their marriage was haunted by a mysterious woman known only as La Fleur. On Kit’s death, American lawyer Andrew “Drew” Bowdoin appears at her door. Hired to find a Resistance fighter turned traitor known as “La Fleur,” the investigation has led to Kit Langford. Curious to know more about the enigmatic La Fleur, Babs joins Drew in his search, a journey of discovery that that takes them to Paris and the Ritz—and to unexpected places of the heart. - William Morrow Books
Rating (out of 5): 4.25
Trigger Warnings: boorish men, war, the Holocaust (obliquely), death
Review: The first romance novel I ever read was “The Secret History of the Pink Carnation” by Lauren Willig (maybe way too young, as I was in high school), and I have loved both her writing and the genre since then. This is one of the books I was looking the most forward to in Winter 2020, and I am currently a little frustrated with past Elizabeth for reading it so quickly — I foresee a re-read sometime in my future, so that I can pick up all the little details and clues that I missed this first time!
Yes, you read this right — clues! This isn’t just a historic romance, it’s a multi-generational mystery, set in the Ritz Paris, and spanning World War I, World War II, and the late 1960s. Totally unambitious storytelling (obviously jk). At the center of the story are three women: Aurelie, the young demoiselles de Courcelles surviving World War I; Daisy, a quiet housewife married to an odious Nazi sympathizer; and Babs, a recent widow who receives an interesting letter in the mail about a famous French spy. At first glance, these women don’t seem at all connected, but they are brought together by a talisman (yessss religious iconography — this former Art History major’s heart sang!) and the iconic Ritz Paris.
I know I’ve been critical of the multiple timelines in historical fiction books, but I feel like it really helped here — the three stories could have each stood on their own, and in many ways did. I was trying to think of whose timeline I enjoyed the most, and it was probably Babs’, set in 1968 and wandering through a Paris that seemed somewhat familiar to me. I have read a lot of fiction set in World War II, and a little bit less set in World War I, and I am admittedly a little burned out on the genre. That doesn’t make the stories less compelling — the amount of details the three writers went into was not only amazing but also historically correct — it is just a matter of personal preference. I wish we had seen more of Aurelie, but I did love getting to know her imperious Mama throughout the whole book.
This is a hard review to write because it is a mystery, and I don’t want to give any plot points away. In my opinion, there were two big reveals — I predicted one of them from about page 40, but the other one was a pretty big surprise to me at the end of the book. All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and I loved the way that it ended.
There should be no surprise that there are traditional aspects of a romance in this book; each of the three co-authors is a well-known romance writer. The three central female characters all find love in different ways and very different circumstances, and I have only minor quibbles with it. While I enjoyed Babs’ timeline the most, her whirlwind romance with Drew was actually the one that annoyed me a little bit, if only for the fact that she seemed to lose of all her English steadfastness when he was around. Max and Aurelie’s story was my favorite, with Daisy and Christophe falling somewhere in the middle. However, it isn’t too steamy — I promise — and it only adds to the story; it doesn’t detract from the plot at all.
As I said, I read a lot of historic fiction, but I can already tell that this will be at the top of my list for 2020, both in terms of ones I enjoyed reading and ones that I will recommend to others. You’ll have to let me know if you pick it up!
TL;DR: A sweeping, multigenerational family mystery, set at the Ritz Paris amid some of the biggest events of the 20th century — charming characters, amazing settings, and so much culture.
If you liked this, try these:
“The Wicked City” by Beatriz Williams (totally different time period but one of mine and Momo’s favorites from Beatriz!)
and finally, pretty much anything on this round up of Women in World War II Literature
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