Title: The Paris Hours

Author: Alex George

Publisher: Flatiron Books 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 258

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf Project; Monthly Theme - June

Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But amidst the dazzling creativity of the city’s most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they’ve lost.

Camille was the maid of Marcel Proust, and she has a secret: when she was asked to burn her employer’s notebooks, she saved one for herself. Now she is desperate to find it before her betrayal is revealed. Souren, an Armenian refugee, performs puppet shows for children that are nothing like the fairy tales they expect. Lovesick artist Guillaume is down on his luck and running from a debt he cannot repay—but when Gertrude Stein walks into his studio, he wonders if this is the day everything could change. And Jean-Paul is a journalist who tells other people’s stories, because his own is too painful to tell. When the quartet’s paths finally cross in an unforgettable climax, each discovers if they will find what they are looking for.

This book really snuck up on me. I made it about 50 pages in and was enjoying the book, but not desperately wanting to finish it. And then we learned even more about our quartet of main characters and I couldn’t put it down. I had to see how their individual searches played out. I had to understand just what kept them going. I demanded to know more about each of their pasts. And we get all of those things in bits and pieces spread out over the novel. By page 125, I could not put the book back down; I had to finish it. This slim novel really packs an emotional punch that I didn’t see coming but thoroughly enjoyed. Each of the main characters (and many of the secondary characters including all the famous ones) leapt off the page. They were as real as you or me. George manages to layer so much characterization and complexities into very short chapters, snippets really. By the end of the novel, I felt like I had head each of their life stories, when the actual action takes place over the course of one day. Breathtaking!

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