An absolutely fantastic book and the audible narration was brilliant. I was hooked on this audible from the beginning. A heartbreaking and emotional read based around WW 2. I've no hesitation in giving this listen 5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book with its interesting take on WWII and the aftermath.

If you enjoy WWII historical fiction novels you'll enjoy this.

Jean-Luc is forced to work on the railway lines to keep the concentration camp trains moving for the Nazis. The first ever train he see's with people on it is broken down and a desperate Jewish woman who is headed to camp hands him her baby to save from the camp. He escapes with the baby and runs away with his girlfriend who becomes his wife to keep the baby safe. 9 years later they are living happily in America when they are tracked down by the birth mum, plunging their son Sam back into Germany with his birth family who do not speak English and vice versa.

It really tears you in two this book knowing how loving towards Sam both parents are and battling over what is right ethically and what is right on paper. Great read.

Samuel is separated from his parents when barely weeks old. His mother entrusts him to a railway worker so that he is spared the horrors of Auschwitz. Jean-Luc, the man she hands him to, takes care of Samuel with the help of Charlotte, a young nurse with whom he has fallen in love. Together, they take Samuel to safety and end up in America.

Years later, Sam is nine and living in California. The family's life is turned upside down when they learn that Sam's biological parents, Sarah and David, survived the war and now want him back. Sam is returned to his parents, but they are like strangers to him and he wants his old life back. This has repercussions for all concerned.

The story is based on real events around the disappearance of hundreds of Jewish-French schoolchildren during World War Two. The scenes at Auschwitz are based on the experience of a female survivor, so feel authentic and resonate strongly.

I felt the sense of dislocation that Sarah and David had and yet also understood why Jean-Luc and Charlotte decided not to reveal that Sam wasn't their natural child. Both sets of adults acted in the way they believed best for Sam, but slowly it became clear that love on its own wasn't enough.

The dual time narrative works well, helping understand the different people involved and their emotions at what is happening. I like that Sam is included so that we have his perspective. The ending is positive and affirmative and that is important, so that we can see how time helps us to understand why things sometimes happen that we can't explain or avoid.

It is an emotive subject and will be difficult to read at times; however, this is a period of history that needs to be rendered and spoken about. I am glad to have read this story and would be happy to read more by Ruth Druart.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Headline, in return for an honest appraisal.

I would like to thank Headline Review and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

In this book a woman will have to make a very difficult decision.

The story takes place in 1953 in Santa Cruz where we find Jean-Luc who decides to flee his past. He has a scar on his face that shows the horrors of the Nazi occupation. He lives in California now, except that the past catches up with him.

In Paris, in 1944, a young Jewish woman sees her past crumble in an instant, she is dragged on a train to Auschwitz, only hope she will have.

I was immediately hooked on the story, so gripping, moving at times, captivating, addictive, full of intrigue, suspense and twists with endearing characters. I love the author's writing.

A well-researched and emotionally hard-hitting historical novel

In 1950s California, French immigrant Jean-Luc has made a new life for himself with his wife Charlotte and young son Sam and has tried his best to settle into American life and forget the darkness of his past. One day, two men turn up at his front door asking questions and Jean-Luc is suddenly dragged back into remembering the horrors of wartime France, from which he and his wife escaped. Back in 1944 when Jean-Luc was working in railway maintenance under the oppressive management of Nazi occupation, a split-second decision made in desperation by a young Jewish woman on the platform of a train bound for Auschwitz had consequences that have changed both her and Jean-Luc lives forever – and those consequences are now catching up with him.

This was a well-written historical novel set during WWII and the German occupation of France, with sections of the story also occurring in the 1950s in both France and America. I always enjoy books set in this time period, and this one stood out by having the central character Jean-Luc as a normal citizen of an occupied country and a reluctant collaborator. He has no choice but to work on the railroads for the Nazis in order to survive but suspects the true evil of what is happening on the trains full of passengers he and the other French workers are never allowed to see and hates himself for his complacency in it. His character was realistic and likeable, and the author does a good job of portraying his conflicting emotions both in the past and present as he deals with multiple difficult scenarios and seemingly impossible decisions. The romance story between him and young nurse Charlotte is charming enough, but it is in the second half of the story that the intense emotional moments begin to appear, building up to a tear-jerking ending that forces the reader to think about what their own actions would be when faced with such challenges.

As well as having an engaging and thought-provoking plot, this book was also easy to read. Despite being told from multiple points of view and jumping back and forth between several timelines, the narrative never becomes confusing, and in fact, this method of storytelling serves to gradually build up a picture of the events that occurred and their devastating consequences. As well as touching on the obvious moral topics that are always brought up in stories set in this time period – the devastating horror and injustice of the Holocaust can never be overstated – the author also focusses on issues of family, identity, culture and what it truly means to be a parent. My only criticisms of this story would be that it was quite a lengthy read which some may dislike, and also that some of the background characters were less well developed than the central ones. Additionally, it wasn’t strikingly different from other historical novels set in WWII in many ways, and there are certainly a lot of them about.

In conclusion, I very much enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any fans of historical fiction looking for an emotionally powerful read. I will certainly look out for more from this author.

Daenerys

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.

A beautifully written and emotional novel set over two timelines- Paris in 1944 and Santa Cruz in 1953. The novel illustrates the difficult decisions those in wartime were forced to make and the ensuing trauma this can leave them with. Druat writes powerfully about unconditional love and I found myself completely immersed in this moving novel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Headline, and the author Ruth Druart.
This was a very involving and emotional story, well-written and engaging.
It also had a very satisfying and moving ending, something that I am finding to be quite rare at the moment!
Recommended to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction focused on WW2.

Really enjoyed this book, and the ending was not what I had expected. Great job of capturing some of the impossible emotions that must have been experienced in different ways during that time. I would definitely recommend

Heartbreaking and emotional story that shows a different perspective to other ww2 books. Kept me reading through the night.

‘While Paris Slept’ by Ruth Druart is World War Two story with a difference. It focusses on the lives of two couples and how one incident, a decision made in seconds, challenges the four people involved to define their own perception of true, selfless love and the heart-wrenching sacrifices this may mean.
This is a dual-timeline story. It starts in 1953, California. One morning the police call at the home of Jean-Luc Beauchamp and take him in for questioning. He is unsurprised. His wife Charlotte and son Sam do not know what is happening.
Interleaved with the story unfolding in 1953, we see Jean-Luc as a young man in occupied Paris, 1944. He is conscripted as a rail maintenance worker based at the Drancy station from where French Jews were transported to Auschwitz. At weekends he travels home to see his mother in Paris but does not admit the things he sees and suspects. Ashamed that people may think he is a collaborator, he determines to do his part. He is injured in an attempt to damage the rail track and is taken to the German hospital where he is nursed by a young French girl, Charlotte. Charlotte, who took the job at the urging of her mother to do something useful, also wants to fight back against the occupiers. Then one day at Drancy a young woman on her way to Auschwitz, suspecting the fate awaiting her and her husband, thrusts her newborn baby into Jean-Luc’s arms. She says his name is Samuel. What follows is an exploration of the lengths people will go to for the true love of defenceless child. And at the heart of it all, subjected to the decisions made by adults, is Samuel.
It is a detailed story, slow to build, as the early pages add to the definition of the later events. At times I wanted to stay in one timeline for longer, rather than swapping between 1953 and 1944, but this is a powerful emotional story that is worth sticking with.
A strong story that doesn’t turn away from difficult issues; the rights, the wrongs and the hazy bits in between.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

A wartime tale of two families joined. I enjoyed the read but found some parts and choices odd and a bit stilted. Worth a read for an afternoon in another time

Wow what a brilliant read. There was so much I Ioved about this story, it was really hard to read in parts but it felt it was pivotal to the book .The two sets of parents who the story revolves around all have increadible stories to tell about what they went through, and how they coped with the terrible things they went through near the end of the war ,and their remarkable strength to keep themselves alive. At the centre of the story is Sam a remarkable little boy, and his story moved me to tears and the loves that shines through every page so beautiful and proves how powerful a mother's love is when they will do whatever it takes for their children to be happy ,no matter what it costs .A remarkable story

Less historical fiction and more a novel with an impossible situation at its heart, While Paris Slept is Ruth Druart’s debut and examines the perspectives of two couples caught in a tug of war over a child and the repercussions of a decision made in the midst of war. The story opens in 1953 when Jean-Luc Beauchamp opens his front door in California and is faced with police officers probing his activity during the war and accusing him of kidnapping nine-year-old Sam, the boy he considers his son. Roll back to 1944 and a twenty-one-year-old Jean-Luc is reluctantly working for the SNCF, now controlled by the Nazi’s, in the fourth year of occupation in Paris. Redeployed to work on maintenance of the track at Bobigny it is through here that thousands of Jews are transported to Auschwitz. When Jean-Luc is hospitalised after an accident he meets eighteen-year-old well-to-do nurse. Charlotte, and it is their romance and thoughts of escape that sustain the young couple. When a train crammed full of Jews bound for “resettlement” breaks down on the track, new mother Sarah Laffitte foists her newborn son on Jean-Luc in a heartbreaking attempt to ensure his survival. Together with Charlotte Jean-Luc makes a hasty decision to flee the country in pursuit of the American dream with his ready-made new family. Against all the odds Sarah Laffitte and her husband, David, survive and after years of searching for Samuel they want him back but both they and the Beauchamp’s are unprepared for the emotional turmoil, soul-searching and ethical questions that a legal challenge is about to bring.

The narrative moves between these two timelines and from alternating perspectives with the first third focusing on Jean-Luc and Charlotte and the lead-up to the decision that sees them flee Paris. The wartime colour and period details are disappointingly limited and Druart’s portrayal of life in occupied Paris is unconvincing with her characters and their behaviour too relaxed to convince and little sign of the ever-present threat to survival of life under a brutal regime. Even Jean-Luc and Charlotte’s escape across the Pyrenees is devoid of perilous complications and this lack of credibility prevented any meaningful build-up of tension, undermining the entire novel and making it feel like lightweight women’s fiction. The story feels rather drawn out and despite the situation being clear throughout the second half of the book I was frustrated that the emotional heft and meaningful nitty-gritty of the impossible situation was limited to the final ten percent. Each of the characters perspectives are conveyed with varying degrees of success including that of nine-year-old Sam which feels like a cheap shot to pull on the emotional heartstrings and contributes little to the ethical debate.

Overall a solid read about the the choices a mother makes to ensure the survival of a child but the prose tends towards excessive sentimentality, the wartime atmosphere fails for convince and the story has a rather simplistic feel which the glib epilogue only reinforced.

An involving wartime story that spans two continents. Split second choices in the darkest moments of the war lead to heartbreaking repercussions for two families. Completely engrossing.

What a powerful book this was of hardship and love.

A Jewish couple are being transported to Poland and a chance came about where the woman handed over her baby to a French railway worker to protect.

Years later things come to a head and will the son end up with his rightful parents or will he stay with his only family that he has known his whole life.

It was a very heartbreaking story and you certainly need the tissues.

Would recommend this book,

If you love historical stories then you will love this book. Set in the era of WWII. A story of courage and love. Of difficult choices. Keep the tissues handy and immerse yourself in this powerful tale.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Love, survival, hope... just a brief example of some of the themes in this book. It was a gripping read with an inviting front cover on one of my favourite periods in history. I would certainly read more from this author.

Wow, such an incredible story set in the horror of the Holocaust, a jewish couple try to save their baby by giving him to a french man....years later in America, things have come to a head, So wonderful and an amazing book I highly recommend.

A very well written World War 2 novel that explores two couples and their heartbreaking bond of love.
A challenging novel for a reader in the sense that empathy and loyalty to the characters switches as time goes on, who has made the right decision? What is a ‘right decision’ in these circumstances?

I was really interested in the character selection for a topic that has been written very frequently, and was of course very much expecting an emotional read, which it was.
Within the pages I found a really thought provoking novel, however I had a few concerns which did reduce the 5* rating I had hoped for.

Firstly the switching of first and third person within chapters - why? I also felt that 1950s America didn’t feel so 1950s. I expected a little bit of a heavier cultural influence within the home life, and very much so on Sam. I would expect to miss hotdogs yes, but also lots of the sweets or mums pancakes. Finally the epilogue was very much a ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ which unfortunately felt very rushed.

many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the gifting of this e-read in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t usually read historical / war time fiction; but this book was fantastic. I loved that each main character had chapters from their perspectives. I enjoyed that the story was split in to different parts; present before truth, past and present after truth. The story was full of love & hope and showed the true extent that parents would endure for their children. When I requested this book, I didn’t realise that it was going to cover the war or concentration camps in such detail, and it was definitely distressing in parts. But the main underlying themes were of keeping hopeful. I felt like I learnt a lot, although fiction. I would recommend this book.