Breakaway Books

Authored by Pam Jenoff; Published February 2025; Historical Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️

It is possible that I have now read too many historical fiction novels set during World War II. Last Twilight in Paris felt like just another novel re-treading similar ground, without much tension to pull it along. 

Last Twilight in Paris tells the story of two women during the war: Louise, an English Red Cross volunteer whose friend tragically dies in a mysterious accident, and Helaine, a Jewish woman whose husband disappears under a cloud of suspicion about his true loyalties. They are connected by a necklace which originated with Helaine but is lost during the war and ultimately found by Louise in the aftermath, when Louise is still trying to reconcile herself to her friend’s death. 

There is a lot of interesting history in this story: the detention of high-status Jews in a French department store that acted as a kind of labor camp, the questionable accomplishments of the Red Cross in Europe in the war period. But, to me, the history itself was the most interesting element. I appreciated Louise’s quest to discover the significance of the necklace, but I already knew much of the answer—it didn’t make for a lot of drama as the plot progressed. There were a few unexpected developments, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to make the narrative compelling.

In both good and bad ways, the novel was easier to read than other historical fiction about the same period. Few descriptions of the brutal conditions—but with that, less realism and lower stakes. It was easier to skim through the novel, feeling very little in the way of empathy. The two primary romances were similarly lackluster, leaning heavily on love at first sight and little more. Unending devotion, sparked from merely a chance meeting, always arouses my skepticism. 

Last Twilight in Paris has much more in the way of happy endings than most WWII historical fiction. That might be exactly what you want!