Moonlight Over Paris: A Novel

by Jennifer Robson

Overview

An aristocratic young woman leaves the sheltered world of London to find adventure, passion, and independence in 1920s Paris in this mesmerizing story from the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France and After the War is Over.

Spring, 1924

Recovering from a broken wartime engagement and a serious illness that left her near death, Lady Helena Montagu-Douglas-Parr vows that for once she will live life on her own terms. Breaking free from the stifling social constraints of the aristocratic society in which she was raised, she travels to France to stay with her free spirited aunt. For one year, she will simply be Miss Parr. She will explore the picturesque streets of Paris, meet people who know nothing of her past—and pursue her dream of becoming an artist.

A few years after the Great War’s end, the City of Light is a bohemian paradise teeming with actors, painters, writers, and a lively coterie of American expatriates who welcome Helena into their romantic and exciting circle. Among them is Sam Howard, an irascible and infuriatingly honest correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. Dangerously attractive and deeply scarred by the horror and carnage of the war, Sam is unlike any man she has ever encountered. He calls her Ellie, sees her as no one has before, and offers her a glimpse of a future that is both irresistible and impossible.

As Paris rises phoenix-like from the ashes of the Great War, so too does Helena. Though she’s shed her old self, she’s still uncertain of what she will become and where she belongs. But is she strong enough to completely let go of the past and follow her heart, no matter where it leads her?

Artfully capturing the Lost Generation and their enchanting city, Moonlight Over Paris is the spellbinding story of one young woman’s journey to find herself, and claim the life—and love—she truly wants.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062389831
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/19/2016
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	21,325
File size:	863 KB

About the Author

Jennifer Robson is the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star number-one bestselling author of six novels, among them The Gown and Somewhere in France. She holds a doctorate in British history from the University of Oxford and lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and children.

Editorial Reviews

Robson gives the concept of self-discovery amid the enchanting streets of Paris a fresh spin in MOONLIGHT OVER PARIS. Delightful and romantic, readers will devour Robson’s latest work.

Heather Webb

Meticulously researched and richly detailed, Moonlight Over Paris paints an enchanting picture... The elegance of Robson’s prose flows through every page, sweeping the reader from London’s aristocracy to the Parisian art scene and beyond... a heartwarming love story that left me aching for a journey back in time.

Kristina McMorris

Robson is a master of evoking atmospheric detail that transports readers back in time and place. I loved every page!

Renee Rosen

Returns with mastery once more to the World War I era…. This is a moving and memorable book.

Pam Jenoff

The vibrant whirl of the Paris art community is the ideal setting for this novel of healing and growth. Robson’s lovely prose allows the reader to savor the atmosphere of the Lost Generation, as well as the personal struggles of her characters.

RT Book Reviews

Robson is a master of evoking atmospheric detail that transports readers back in time and place. I loved every page!” %COMM_CONTRIB%Renee Rosen

2015-11-19
After recovering from a near-fatal illness, 28-year-old Lady Helena Montagu-Douglas-Parr of London decides it's time to move to Paris and start living life to its fullest. Historical fiction writer Robson (After the War Is Over, 2015, etc.) delivers a novel in which Lady Helena aims to break free of the aristocratic life in which she has become the focus of gossip and ostracism due to her broken engagement with an ill-suited World War l veteran. She successfully enrolls in a selective art school in Paris, where she will live with her free-spirited Aunt Agnes. With a one-year reprieve from her staid London existence, Helena promises herself she will transform her life, a venture made even more exciting given the backdrop of romantic Paris of the 1920s. Rather than the sizzling and multilayered story that early chapters hint will unfurl, the novel offers a linear account of a year in the life of a likable yet uninspiring protagonist who interacts with similarly benign and tepid characters. Helena's friends at art school all reveal potential complexity, yet none are explored or developed. Her love interest, Sam, an American journalist, is also a vague character sketch. Even Aunt Agnes, described as wildly avant-garde, ventures only as far as suggesting Helena take a lover. Also frustrating are the unsatisfying cameos by Lost Generation literary icons like Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. (Though the quick scene between the spatting F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald is fun.) These real-life characters are written into chapters as if to merely acknowledge their existence in the same time and place as Helena but serve no purpose to advance a slow-moving plot. Writing about a young art student restless for adventure in postwar Paris seems like a promising idea. Sadly, Robson delivers a dim tale devoid of moonlight.

Kirkus Reviews