The Paris Apartment review: Thrilling and hauntingly beautiful

Sometimes a book comes along that surprises you in all the best ways. Bonus points if the twists and turns that the characters encounter are as surprising for the reader as they are for the characters. Such is the case with Kelly Bowen’s new book The Paris Apartment. Set in two vastly different time periods, the story follows incredible women doing incredible things in the face of great adversity.

When Aurelia Leclaire – Lia for short – inherits her grandmother’s apartment, she’s really inheriting a mystery that spans decades. Lia discovers that her grandmother Estelle had a life she never knew about and it’s up to Lia and art restorer Gabriel Seymour to follow the clues to determine how her grandmother came to be in possession of priceless works of art that have been locked away for years and years.

Kelly Bowen’s The Paris Apartment is equal parts intrigue, drama and adventure. Through it all, though, there is no mistaking the somber overtones that overshadow the stories in both time periods. For Lia, the idea that her grandmother might be a Nazi sympathizer is devastating. For Estelle, seeing her friends dragged away in the middle of the night is more than she can bear, and while she’s safe (or as safe as anyone could be in occupied Paris), she can’t sit idly by and not try to help.

The Paris Apartment is thrilling and hauntingly beautiful

Bowen has spent a lot of time researching the stories of incredible women who fought side by side with their male counterparts during World War II, acting as spies and trying to funnel people to safety while trying to stay off the Nazis’ radar.

When Estelle starts working with an actual Allied spy to learn Nazi secrets, she’s putting everything at risk. Lia and Gabriel’s story is equally compelling as they discover they have connections they never imagined.

Bowen develops her characters so well, using their personal backstories to support their reasoning for their actions. Lia never knew her grandmother as anything other than distant and somewhat cold, and yet she was a hero who managed to keep it all a secret from her family.

As a student of history, I found the book to be dazzlingly compelling. It’s the kind of story you can’t put down, and I don’t mean that as a cliche. Both Lia and Estelle’s stories keep you invested and in truth I spent an entire evening devouring the book because I had to know what happened next.

It’s important to note that as with all stories set during the chaos and devastation of World War II, the Paris occupation and the Holocaust, there are stories that are hard to read. As much as you want things to end well, they often don’t by very nature of the circumstances. Bowen balances the grief and tragedy with little victories that help her characters move forward in the face of such unspeakable horror, and the story is so much stronger for it.

As we move deeper into the 21st century we’re losing the last of the people who lived through World War II. The Paris Apartment connects the present with the past in the most unexpected ways, and it’s a powerful reminder that we must never forget the brave women and men who did extraordinary things when called upon to step up and do the right thing, no matter how great the risk.

The Paris Apartment is available now.