While Paris Slept: A mother faces a heartbreaking choice in this bestselling story of love and courage in World War 2

This should have been a good novel. For a WWII story, it does a good job of finding a new angle by focussing on ordinary French people, both during and after the war. The novel asks some interesting questions about what exactly it means to "collaborate" with the Germans, and, of course, it has a lot to say about family and what makes us really belong. The characters were interesting, the plot was reasonably unique, and the treatment of the war was sensitive and realistic without being ever sensationalist.

My frustration with this novel, however, was that it actually undercut its own central conflict through the way the story was structured. It's hard to say much without spoilers, but the biggest question of the novel was about whether or not Jean-Luc and Charlotte did the right thing shortly after the war, but the two timelines are during the war and several years after, so we never actually see them make the main decision. All we see is Jean-Luc doing an undeniably heroic thing in the past timeline, then having it treated as some sort of dark secret in the present. This results in an odd disconnect where Jean-Luc and Charlotte are obviously "good guys," yet somehow no one else in the story can see that.

The reason why this is frustrating is that the novel isn't trying to present a story of "good guys vs. unjust regime." Rather, it's trying to offer a nuanced look at family and what it truly means to love a child and belong to a family. The way it tackles this questions is interesting and thoughtful, but this aspect of the novel is hugely overshadowed by the presence of a criminal trial and imprisonment that adds nothing to the discussion. I can't say more without giving spoilers, but at its core this is a story about parents their child, where all the main elements of the plot merely distract from the emotional heart of the novel.

Overall, there's lots to like about this story. It approaches WW2 from a not-entirely-overdone angle, and it focusses in on telling the story of a few characters we do truly come to care about. I simply feel that if the author had chosen to have fewer dramatic events sweep into her characters' lives, she would have had more room to highlight the love and loss that truly matters to the story.

A strong story, well written. Could this have happened? Perhaps. It is difficult to divulge details of this book without revealing too much. It is a tight story and would appear to be factually accurate. Heart-rending but a really good read.

During the war years in France Jean-Luc is a reluctant railway worker, stationed near a Jewish camp from where trains leave daily for Auschwitz. One day while he is on the platform, a desperate Jewish lady who is being herded onto the train by the Nazis, thrusts a bundle into his arms. The bundle contains a very young baby. It is almost impossible to elaborate further without giving away the plot. Needless to say that things become slightly complicated.

For a debut novel this book is an extremely accomplished achievement. It provides thought-provoking dilemmas delivered in the form of a very accessible and enjoyable novel. There is a gripping storyline, and I get the impression that the author has done a lot of research to ensure this is an historically accurate novel. The book also raises some quite complex moral issues pertaining to parentage, family bonds, family rights and a whole host of other related subjects.

The only slight problem from my point of view was that it did fail on the “memorability” test - when I came to do the review a fortnight after I had finished it I had to read the book synopsis to jog my memory and even then, was struggling to remember details. Maybe it’s not the fault of the book at all and it’s just that I’m getting old, as this seems to be happening more and more these days!!

I would thoroughly recommend this book to pretty much everyone. If rising to intellectual/ethical challenges is not your idea of a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon, it works equally well as an easy-read novel. I will certainly be looking out for more of Ruth’s work in the hope that this is a typical example of her style of writing.

Shocking story of survival under German occupation In France