Tag: Paris setting

Janie Chang—The Porcelain Moon

Uncle Louis is sent with Theo and Pauline from Shanghai by the Deng family to start an antique business in Paris. He plans to arrange his son, Theo’s marriage and set him up in the business so he can return to China. But Theo manages to delay the arranged marriage first by further education, then finally by working as an interpreter for the British during WW1. When Pauline learns her uncle’s first wife is arranging her marriage, she is desperate to find her cousin to help her convince her uncle not to send her back to China. She rushes to Noyelles where Theo has been working with Chinese labourers but is distressed and fearful by what she discovers.

Every Janie Chang book I’ve read has been a five out of five. This one delves into a neglected part of World War1’s history that I had never read about which is seen through the eyes of its main characters—Theo and Pauline Deng and their friend Henri Liu, a Chinese journalist.

Kim Echlin’s—Speak, silence*****

Gota, a journalist, leaves Canada and travels to Bosnia in the hope of reconnecting with Kosmos—the man she had a whirlwind romance with in Paris that resulted in a daughter. After a night of lovemaking in Sarajevo with Kosmos, he introduces her to the love of his life—Edina who still pines for her dead husband. On a visit to Edina’s law office, Gota learns of the thousands of files Edina has collected from women who were raped during the Bosnian War. She’s drawn to Edina and the testimony her mother, herself, and her daughter are about to give in The Hague when a trial against Dragic, an officer who in his village, ordered the capture, rape, and torture of Muslim women.

Speak, silence is not an easy read, but the believable characters and court proceedings are an eye opener for those who have never experienced how many men behave in war and what ethnic cleansing really means.

Ariel Lawhon’s—Code name Helene

Nancy is a freelance Australian journalist based in Paris in the late 1930s. In between assignments, she wiles away her time with her French friend, Stephanie who soon introduces her to handsome, playboy, Henri. But Nancy’s life is set on a different course when she witnesses the whipping and humiliation of a Berlin Jew. She cannot forget the German torturer’s face nor the mesmerized crowd when Hitler gave a speech.

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Nancy Huston’s — The mark of an angel *****

Saffie is a German living in Paris in the 1950s who works for a musician, Raphael. Raphael falls desperately in love with Saffie while she appears strangely aloof. They have a child together, but when Saffie meets Marias, their lives fall apart and Saffie’s haunted past comes to light.

This is Huston at her best. While I read this novel more than a decade ago, it’s tale has always remained embedded in my memory — a sure sign of an exceptional story.