The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron
Based on true accounts of how Parisiennes resisted the Nazi occupation in World War II—from fashion houses to the city streets—comes a story of two courageous women who risked everything to fight an evil they couldn’t abide.
Paris, 1939. Maison Chanel has closed, thrusting haute couture dressmaker Lila de Laurent out of the world of high fashion as Nazi soldiers invade the streets and the City of Lights slips into darkness. Lila’s life is now a series of rations, brutal restrictions, and carefully controlled propaganda while Paris is cut off from the rest of the world. Yet in hidden corners of the city, the faithful pledge to resist. Lila is drawn to La Resistance and is soon using her skills as a dressmaker to infiltrate the Nazi elite. She takes their measurements and designs masterpieces, all while collecting secrets in the glamorous Hôtel Ritz—the heart of the Nazis’ Parisian headquarters. But when dashing René Touliard suddenly reenters her world, Lila finds her heart tangled between determination to help save his Jewish family and bolstering the fight for liberation.
Paris, 1943. Sandrine Paquet’s job is to catalog the priceless works of art bound for the Führer’s Berlin, masterpieces stolen from prominent Jewish families. But behind closed doors, she secretly forages for information from the underground resistance. Beneath her compliant façade lies a woman bent on uncovering the fate of her missing husband . . . but at what cost? As Hitler’s regime crumbles, Sandrine is drawn in deeper when she uncrates an exquisite blush Chanel gown concealing a cryptic message that may reveal the fate of a dressmaker who vanished from within the fashion elite.
Told across the span of the Nazi occupation, The Paris Dressmaker highlights the brave women who used everything in their power to resist darkness and restore light to their world.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
—Habakkuk 1:5 niv
31 December 1943
Forêt de Meudon
Meudon, France
If Lila de Laurent were discovered in the forest, she was dead.
Orphaned snowflakes drifted down, making the depths of the woods seem far more threatening in their desolation than the streets of Paris ever could. Floodlights grasped behind her, searching through the trees with skeletal shadows as she swept through undergrowth that frayed the hem of her ivory gown into damp strips. The sounds of patrol dogs barking in the distance echoed loudly, competing with her own drumming heartbeat as she ran through the snow.
If the Vichy police caught up to her, they wouldn’t need an excuse to turn Lila over to the SS. And the Nazis would show no mercy. They wouldn’t inquire why a Vogue fashion plate was trekking through the Forêt de Meudon on New Year’s Eve. A bullet hole through her side and a pistol in her pocket would tell them all they needed to know about who Lila de Laurent had become.
The gloved hand she kept pressed to her side warned of urgency, blood seeping through the thin gabardine plaits of her ivory opera coat—a stain she couldn’t hope to hide and an impediment she could not ignore.
“Il faut que je file!” Run! Lila gave herself the order through gritted teeth.
Even if it hurt to breathe, or move, or think from one moment to the next, she had to keep going. The Boche were as thick as the trees within the Forêt borders and the Maquis had a system of guerrilla fighters positioned in all directions spanning from Paris. It meant they couldn’t account for one combatant’s safety—even from their own guns—making the escape through the forest a foolhardy one if she was discovered and disbelieved by either side.
Her comrade, Violette, had repeated the warning with a firm grip to her arm seconds before Lila fled the Hôtel Ritz that evening:
“To go through the Meudon is your only way out now. But be careful; it is overrun. Change your clothes. And cut your hair. If they learn of this, the SS will circulate a photo of you as the fashion princess with the trademark marron locks spilling down her back. You must not look like her. If you are to live, then that girl must first die.”
With no time to shed the silk gown she wore or to see to the fallen chignon that now tangled in long ropes over her shoulders, Lila had already failed that instruction. So she avoided the cleared paths—which were likely host to buried mines at their borders—and kept to the camouflage of snowy places, following the trail set by Nazi-protected rail lines stretching through the trees.
A road curved round a bend and over a rise; château gates emerged.
Praise for The Paris Dressmaker
“Woven within this beautiful historical tapestry of WWII from Cambron (The Painted Castle) is the stark reminder to keep friends close and enemies closer . . .Based on true events, this exquisite tale impresses with its historical and emotional authenticity. Historical fiction fans won't want to miss this.” —Publishers Weekly Starred Review“Unimaginable heartache, unforgettable romance, and cheering defiance against the oppression the Nazis inflicted on Paris; readers will be swept away into a story where battle-scarred good at last rings victory over evil.” —J’nell Ciesielski, author of The Socialite
“Stunning. With as much skill and care as the title’s namesake possesses, The Paris Dressmaker weaves together the stories of two heroines who boldly defy the darkness that descends on the City of Light.” —Jocelyn Green, Christy Award-winning author of Shadows of the White City
“A thoroughly satisfying blend of memorable characters, evocative writing, and wartime drama that seamlessly transport you to the City of Light at its most desperate hour.” —Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things
“Kristy Cambron deftly weaves multiple timelines to craft a story as complex and romantic and beautiful as a couture gown. In addition, Lila and Sandrine’s strength and courage in a troubled world inspire us to live likewise. Tres magnifique!” —Sarah Sundin, bestselling and award-winning author of When Twilight Breaks and the Sunrise at Normandy series
“With real-life historical details woven in with her fictional tale, the story popped off the page. Readers will be thinking of this book long after they've read the last word.” —Rachel Hauck, New York Times bestselling author
“A well-researched and beautifully interwoven treatise on courage and conviction in the midst of oppression.” —Rachel McMillan, author of The London Restoration and The Mozart Code
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About the Author
Kristy Cambron is an award-winning author of historical fiction, including her bestselling debut The Butterfly and the Violin, and an author of nonfiction, including the Verse Mapping Series Bibles and Bible studies. Kristy's work has been named to Publishers Weekly Religion & Spirituality TOP 10, Library Journal Reviews’ Best Books, RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards, received 2015 & 2017 INSPY Award nominations, and has been featured at CBN, Lifeway Women, Jesus Calling, Country Woman Magazine, MICI Magazine, Faithwire, Declare, (in)Courage, and Bible Gateway. She holds a degree in Art History/Research Writing and lives in Indiana with her husband and three sons, where she can probably be bribed with a peppermint mocha latte and a good read.
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Blog Tour Schedule
Tuesday, February 9Review at Amy's Booket List
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Review at Chicks, Rogues and Scandals
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Review at Gwendalyn's Books
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Review at Novels Alive
Thursday, February 25
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Friday, February 26
Review at The Lit B****
Giveaway
We have 5 paperback copies of The Paris Dressmaker up for grabs!The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on February 26th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
The Paris Dressmaker
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