» REVIEW: The Paris Secret by Natasha LesterThe Booktopian

The cover of The Paris Secret, the fifth novel from Australian author Natasha Lester, suggests a light romance in the world of 1940s haute-couture fashion. It is that, but it is so much more–and a good example of how we should not judge books by their covers. As a love story, it certainly does deliver. This meticulously researched historical novel, however, also reveals the little-known world of unlauded World War II female pilots in Britain’s ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), who transported a huge range of aircraft between factories, bases and squadrons to free up the much-needed male pilots for combat.

Natasha Lester

The complex yet captivating story of The Paris Secret revolves around the relationship between talented pilot Skye Penrose, her estranged sister Liberty, childhood companion Nicholas Crawford and his somewhat mysterious fiancee Margaux Jourdan. All four are unexpectedly thrown together through their secret wartime assignments. In the meantime, in the present day, Australian fashion historian and conservator Kat Jourdan discovers a cache of priceless Dior designer dresses hidden in the wardrobe of the vacant Cornwall cottage owned by her elderly grandmother Margaux, who refuses to share the details of her past life in WWII Britain and France. Where could they have possibly come from? What is Margaux’s connection to the House of Dior and its New Look collection of 1947 which revolutionised the world of fashion?

As Kat investigates the mystery, she is joined in her quest by Elliott Beaufort, a renowned author of history who is researching a book about the Penrose sisters and their WWI aviatrix mother. What they slowly uncover is a fascinating world of pilots, spies, fashion, love, resentments and mystery, spanning 65 years from the calm of rural Cornwall to the fashion ateliers of post-war Paris and the shocking world of the all-female Ravensbruck concentration camp. Chapters set there are, in fact, arguably the most riveting and unforgettable of the whole book.

Keeping the reader guessing until the very end, Lester demonstrates her storytelling talents and ensures that the hardiest of fans will be reaching for a tissue at the book’s touching denouement. The Paris Secret has “movie” written all over it, as it clearly would translate marvellously to the screen. In the meantime, in these uncertain times when many are hunkering down and self-isolating with a good book to engage the spirit and escape day-to-day concerns, The Paris Secret is definitely what the doctor ordered!

—The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester (Hachette Australia) is out on the 31st of March, and is available for pre-order here.

The Paris Secret

by Natasha Lester

A wardrobe of Dior gowns, a secret kept for sixty-five years, and the three women bound forever by war... from the New York Times bestselling author of The French Photographer.

England, 1939 Talented pilot Skye Penrose joins the British war effort where she encounters her estranged sister, Liberty, and childhood soulmate Nicholas Crawford, now engaged to enigmatic Frenchwoman Margaux Jourdan. Paris, 1947 Designer Christian Dior unveils his extravagant first collection to a world weary of war and grief. He names his debut...

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