The Room on Rue Amelie by Kristin Harmel – 400 pages
ARC courtesy of the Gallery Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Book Blurb:
When newlywed Ruby Henderson Benoit arrives in Paris in 1939 with her French husband Marcel, she imagines strolling arm in arm along the grand boulevards, awash in the golden afternoon light. But war is looming on the horizon, and as France falls to the Nazis, her marriage begins to splinter, too. Charlotte Dacher is eleven when the Germans roll into the French capital, their sinister swastika flags snapping in the breeze. After the Jewish restrictions take effect and Jews are ordered to wear the yellow star, Charlotte can’t imagine things getting much worse. But then the mass deportations begin, and her life is ripped forever apart. Thomas Clarke joins the British Royal Air Force to protect his country, but when his beloved mother dies in a German bombing during the waning days of the Blitz, he wonders if he’s really making a difference. Then he finds himself in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, and he discovers a new reason to keep fighting—and an unexpected road home. When fate brings them together, Ruby, Charlotte, and Thomas must summon the courage to defy the Nazis—and to open their own broken hearts—as they fight to survive. My
Review: 4 stars
The Room On Rue Amelie was a wonderful window into the pressure cooker the righteous gentiles were living in during WW2. How they prepared the spaces along with the code work involved in hiding people was fascinating. They were shrouded in secrecy and had to trust so many others to make the program of sheltering people work.
While there are Jewish characters in the novel that are in hiding, Harmel took an interesting spin by enlightening us about the fate of British Air Force pilots that were shot down. If fate allowed them to survive, certainly they’d need a place to hide. This is something I’d never thought about and I’m so glad the author brought this to my attention.
There is an underlying romance at play throughout the novel, which adds a good balance between love and war. The two main characters, Ruby and Charlotte, are strong, courageous, compassionate and selfless women. This book shows how people so different in age, religion, background and experience can come together in order to survive and move forward.
Quotes I liked:
That’s one thing faith is especially good for: giving us strength in times of crisis”
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