03/30/2020
Set in Paris over 24 hours in summer 1927, George’s engrossing third novel (after Setting Free the Kites) interweaves the lives of four characters struggling with loss, loneliness, and secrets. A decade after Turkish forces drove Souren Balakian from his home in Anatolia, he attempts to exorcize terrifying memories through his puppet shows. Before fleeing Paris to avoid reprisal for unpaid debts, Guillaume Blanc decides to meet the daughter he believes was born from his tryst with a trapeze artist 10 years earlier. Camille Clermont has saved one of the notebooks her late employer, Marcel Proust, asked her to burn; when her husband sells it without her permission, she fears that a shameful secret she confided to Proust will become public. Journalist Jean-Paul Maillard interviews luminaries such as Josephine Baker, but his heart is in the unpublished book he wrote about his infant daughter, Elodie, who disappeared in 1918 amid the German shelling that killed his wife. By evoking fictional characters and historical figures with equal vividness and wisely using repeated motifs (a Ravel piece, a prostitute, a club, a painting), George unites his narratives in a surprising yet wholly convincing denouement. Elegant and evocative, this will have special appeal for lovers of Paris and fans of Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife. (May)
Praise for The Paris Hours
An IndieNext Pick and Book of the Month Club Selection
“What a design! George expertly crosscuts between various plots, coaxing them closerand closer as evening draws on. The tinder has been set and the fire is lit asthe action converges on a raucous cabaret in Montmartre.”
—The NewYork Times Book Review
“Exquisite…A testimony to the life-changing power of a single day, the book reads like a Jazz Age Les Miserables.”
—Columbia Tribune
"What makes this tale work so well?...George knows his way around the world...He writes with a keen edge...[He takes] readers through the streets of Paris—not the Paris that tourists flock to but the Paris that houses real Parisians."
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“The story explores the effects and events of World War I and the magnificence of Paris through the lens of the four characters, and the climax brings their paths together in an exciting read that you won't be able to put down.”
—CNN.com
“No other recent novel both embraces and transcends its Parisian setting like Alex George’s new book, The Paris Hours…Brims with beauty, music, tragedy, uncertainty, and hope…Resonate[s] deeply.”
—Chicago Review of Books
“Paris between the world wars is the setting for this novel, which unfolds over the course of one day in 1927 and includes a cast of characters such as Camille, the maid of Marcel Proust, a journalist named Jean-Paul, a down-on-his-luck artist named Guillaume who has a meeting with Gertrude Stein, and more.”
—New York Post (A Best Book of the Week)
"Four lives converge in this page-turning blend of fact and fiction."
—GoodMorningAmerica.com
“A captivating tale of Parisian life during the roaring ‘20s.”
—BuzzFeed
“Lovingly written and focused in scope, with plenty of mystery and surprises…Those seeking an immersive read set in 1920s Paris will enjoy this emotional ride, providing a glimpse into the desires and lives that walked the streets of Paris in the shadow of the Great War.”
—Historical Novel Society
"Delicious."
—AARP
“Spellbinding…A story steeped in emotion, in yearning, in the desperate wish to change the past, and who among us can’t relate to such a thing?... I raced through the final third, breathless to find out how it would conclude.
—Veranda Magazine (Book Club pick)
“The Paris Hours is the kind of book that almost demands to be devoured; it’s hard to avoid being swept away by the journeys undertaken by each of these regular, yet remarkable people. Evocative and smartly-paced, driven by character and historicity, it’s a fantastic read.”
—The Maine Edge
“An artist, a writer, a puppeteer, and an author’s intimate—the stories of these characters move back and forth in a beautiful dance. And how they come together in the final movement is très belle! George has captured the ethos of 1920s Paris.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Enchanting…Like the film Midnight in Paris…the novel has put us under the spell of the City of Light yet again…Stunning.”
—Booklist
“Engrossing…By evoking fictional characters and historical figures with equal vividness and wisely using repeated motifs, George unites his narratives in a surprising yet wholly convincing denouement. Elegant and evocative, this will have special appeal for lovers of Paris and fans of Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Glittering...Compelling and elegantly written, The Paris Hours is a tribute to love, grief and serendipity in the City of Light.”
—Shelf Awareness
“Atmospheric…George’s Proustian homage to a lost time will be a Francophile’s madeleine.”
—Kirkus
“George masterfully concocts a story of people seeking solace, redemption, and answers to the questions that plague them. Like All the Light We Cannot See, The Paris Hours explores the brutality of war and its lingering effects with cinematic intensity. The ending will leave you breathless.”
—Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train and A Piece of the World
“A feast of the human soul. In this stunning novel, George goes behind the glitter of Paris in 1927 and takes you to the rooftops, the skinny alleyways, the flower-strewn parks, and darkened bar rooms to mine the wisdom of humanity. Beautifully rendered; gorgeously told.”
—Jessica Keener, author of Strangers In Budapest
“The kind of novel I always dream about finding: a completely engrossing story that had me canceling plans. I read The Paris Hours without pausing, desperate to see if these marvelous characters could escape the ache of their past. And I gasped when I got to the end.”
—Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club and Books for Living
“Although Josephine Baker, Marcel Proust, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein drift along the edges of this exquisitely written, lovely jewel of a book, the characters who win our true affection are those created with appealing sympathy by George.”
—George Hodgman, author of Bettyville
“George writes movingly of human connection, lost and found. His vivid portrayal of lives intersecting in early 20th century Paris will delight you with its lyricism and touch you with its humanity. The main protagonists are so beautifully drawn they will haunt you long after you reach the end.”
—Melanie Benjamin, author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and Mistress of the Ritz
“A thrilling, irresistible marvel. In lyrical prose, George weaves together memory, loss, and yearning, portraying his characters with such vivid immediacy that I could imagine myself walking beside them along the winding streets of Paris, sharing their stories. Riveting, heartbreaking, and compassionate.”
—Lauren Belfer, author of City of Light and And After the Fire
“A journey of memory, The Paris Hours is a sensory feast that had me gobbling pages and dreaming myself into the heyday of Paris prestige. You know a novel is great when you finish reading and wish the fiction could be true history.”
—Sarah McCoy, author of Marilla of Green Gables
“The Paris Hours is a kaleidoscope of a novel: intricately constructed, glittering with color and history, playful, poignant, and a joy to hold in your hands. I was transported, seduced, and ultimately moved by spending this day with George’s rich and big-hearted imagination.”
—Christopher Castellani, author of Leading Men
“The Paris Hours weaves together the moving tales of four disparate lives in an ending so stunning I was compelled to return to the beginning and read it again. Kudos, Alex George!”
—Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank
“The Paris Hours explores, in the course of a single day, the loves, sorrows, and secrets of four ordinary people whose lives touch lightly on the more famous of 1920s Paris: Ernest Hemingway, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, and Josephine Baker. This extraordinarily wise and moving novel is one of the loveliest looks at the world’s most charming city, and at humanity, that I have read. I hated for it to end.”
—Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Last Train to London
★ 05/01/2020
George's third novel (after Setting Free the Kites) is set in 1927 Paris, the heyday of Gertrude Stein, Marcel Proust, and Maurice Ravel. These real historical figures mingle with fictional characters to convey Paris during those years of artistic fruition. The everyday characters include Armenian refugee and puppeteer Souren, whose shows have a dark undertone that has special meaning only to him. Artist Guillaume must repay the money he owes to a loan shark before he is killed. Journalist Jean-Paul dreams of moving to America, and interviews various American expats, such as Josephine Baker, to satisfy his soul. There is also the tale of Marcel Proust's maid, a country girl named Camille who ends up being Proust's confidante. An artist, a writer, a puppeteer, and an author's intimate—the stories of these characters move back and forth in a beautiful dance. And how they come together in the final movement is très belle! VERDICT George has captured the ethos of 1920s Paris with a feel similar to Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. This title is not to be missed.—Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC
2020-04-13
Set in 1927, George’s atmospheric third novel follows the lives of four ordinary Parisians, each seeking something they lost, over the course of a summer day.
The book opens a few hours after midnight as Souren Balakian, an Armenian refugee haunted by traumatic memories of his flight from Ottoman Anatolia a decade before, prepares his puppets for his daily shows at the Jardin du Luxembourg. Impoverished painter Guillaume Blanc awakes, hungover and desperate to raise money to pay off a loan shark’s debt that is due that day. Insomniac Jean-Paul Maillard, a journalist nursing physical and emotional wounds from the Great War, comforts himself listening to the music of George Gershwin. Camille Clermont arrives at a cemetery with her young daughter, Marie, to lay flowers on the grave of her former employer, writer Marcel Proust. As the day progresses, alternating chapters interweave these characters’ pasts with their presents to gradually reveal tragedies and heart-wrenching secrets. The era’s celebrities (Josephine Baker, Gertrude Stein, Maurice Ravel, Sylvia Beach, Ernest and Pauline Hemingway) make guest appearances in a name-dropping Midnight in Paris fashion. Despite some striking moments (a badly wounded Jean-Paul is moved by an impromptu piano concert in an abandoned church by an ambulance driver who turns out to be Ravel), other encounters feel forced. Likewise, in George’s aim to get his four protagonists to the climax in a Montmartre jazz club, the loose connections he creates among them seem at times like heavy-handed contrivances. And despite the vividness of the stories being told, their power is undermined by the flatness of the character development. Still, the ambiguous ending will provide discussion fodder for reading groups.
Despite its flaws, George’s Proustian homage to a lost time will be a Francophile’s madeleine.
