BOOK BY: Kristy Cambron
What a fascinating book about haute couture and the preservation of art during WWII.
The story moves between two women, seemingly unconnected during the years of 1939-1945. Lila de Laurent is a fashion designer for Coco Chanel, her designs sought after and her face recognizable as the dressmaker to employ. Sandrine Paquet is in survival mode, archiving artifacts for the Nazi’s at the cost of her reputation. But both women become intimately connected through their bravery and the love of country and family, and by one man who will risk it all for humanity.
There’s so much subterfuge, the reader will turn the pages faster than s/he can read them. Action, intense scenes and clues pepper the pages as the reader experiences the anxiety of a volatile time in history. The author paints a vivid picture of the artistic world, bringing to life the designs and masterpieces of a bygone era.
Several female characters are introduced, their choices of how to survive vastly different from one another. The reader is given a glimpse into the desperation of some of them to do whatever it took to live while their lives were endangered.
Once again, Kristy Cambron delivers a powerful story of survival in a time that changed our world.
I received an ecopy from the publisher through Net Galley. All opinions expressed are my own.