Publisher Description
American historian Hannah intends to immerse herself in World War II research in Paris, wary of paying too much attention to the city where a youthful misadventure once left her dejected. But a chance encounter with Tariq—a Moroccan teenager whose visions of the City of Lights as a world of opportunity and rebirth starkly contrast with her own—disrupts her plan. Hannah agrees to take Tariq in as a lodger, forming an unexpected connection with the young man. Yet as Tariq begins to assimilate into the country he risked his life to enter, he realizes that its dark past and current ills are far more complicated than he’d anticipated. And Hannah, diving deeper into her work on women’s lives in Nazi-occupied Paris, uncovers a shocking piece of history that threatens to dismantle her core beliefs. Soon each must question which sacrifices are worth their happiness and what, if anything, the tumultuous past century can teach them about the future.
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About Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks’ six previous novels include Birdsong (1993), Charlotte Gray (2000), The Girl at the Lion d’Or (1989), and On Green Dolphin Street (2001). He is also the author of a biographical study, The Fatal Englishman (1996). He lives in London, is married, and has two sons and a daughter.