Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I

by Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb

Overview

An unforgettably romantic novel that spans four Christmases (1914-1918), Last Christmas in Paris explores the ruins of war, the strength of love, and the enduring hope of the Christmas season.

New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor has joined with Heather Webb to create this unforgettably romantic novel of the Great War.

August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.

But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…

Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?

Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062562685
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Hazel Gaynor is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Romantic Novel of the Year award. Her third novel, The Girl from The Savoy, was an Irish Times and Globe and Mail bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. Her most recent novel, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, was a USA Today and Irish Times bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award. Hazel’s work has been translated into fourteen languages. She lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.

Heather Webb is the award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of The Last Ship Home, The Phantom's Apprentice, Rodin's Lover, and Becoming Josephine. Heather is also a freelance editor, and teaches craft courses at a local college. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages, worldwide. She lives in Connecticut with her family and one feisty rabbit. 

Editorial Reviews

Gaynor and Webb’s first collaboration is beautifully told [...] the authors fully capture the characters’ voices as each person is dramatically shaped by the war to end all wars.” — Booklist

“Last Christmas in Paris is an extraordinary epistolary novel that explores the history and aftermath of the Great War in a sensitive, memorable and profoundly moving fashion. A book to savor, to share and discuss with friends, and above all to cherish.” — Jennifer Robson, International bestselling author of Goodnight from London and Somewhere in France 

“For fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society comes another terrific epistolary historical novel that is simply unputdownable [...] this remarkable novel will undoubtedly go on my keeper shelf.” — Karen White, New York Times bestselling author of The Night the Lights Went Out

“Humor, love, tragedy, and hope make for a moving, uplifting read. A winner!” — Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network

“Best-selling author Gaynor (A Memory of Violets) teams with historical novelist Webb (Rodin’s Lover) to pen a moving and heartfelt story of love and bravery  [...]” — Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher

For fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society comes another terrific epistolary historical novel that is simply unputdownable [...] this remarkable novel will undoubtedly go on my keeper shelf.

Karen White

Last Christmas in Paris is an extraordinary epistolary novel that explores the history and aftermath of the Great War in a sensitive, memorable and profoundly moving fashion. A book to savor, to share and discuss with friends, and above all to cherish.

Jennifer Robson

Gaynor and Webb’s first collaboration is beautifully told [...] the authors fully capture the characters’ voices as each person is dramatically shaped by the war to end all wars.

Booklist

Humor, love, tragedy, and hope make for a moving, uplifting read. A winner!

Kate Quinn

Gaynor and Webb’s first collaboration is beautifully told [...] the authors fully capture the characters’ voices as each person is dramatically shaped by the war to end all wars.

Booklist

★ 10/15/2017
An elderly Thomas Harding's Christmas visit to Paris in 1968 alternates with an epistolary novel that begins in September 1914 at the beginning of World War I with Thomas writing to inform his father that he's joined the British Army along with his best friend Will Elliott. Will's sister, Evie, begins corresponding with Will and Tom when they head to the battlefield in France. As hardships on the war front and back home play out through the letters, Evie is faced with difficult choices about pursuing her writing, helping with the war effort, and figuring out who she really loves. VERDICT Best-selling author Gaynor (A Memory of Violets) teams with historical novelist Webb (Rodin's Lover) to pen a moving and heartfelt story of love and bravery that will attract admirers of World War I fiction and the collection Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/17.]

Library Journal