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The Postmistress of Paris

A Novel

Audiobook
3 of 4 copies available
3 of 4 copies available

A GMA BUZZ PICK * AN INDIE NEXT PICK* AN AMAZON BEST OF THE MONTH PICK, LITERATURE AND FICTION*A PEOPLE MAGAZINE PICK

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Train to London revisits the dark early days of the German occupation in France in this haunting novel—a love story and a tale of high-stakes danger and incomparable courage—about a young American heiress who helps artists hunted by the Nazis escape from war-torn Europe.

Wealthy, beautiful Naneé was born with a spirit of adventure. For her, learning to fly is freedom. When German tanks roll across the border and into Paris, this woman with an adorable dog and a generous heart joins the resistance. Known as the Postmistress because she delivers information to those in hiding, Naneé uses her charms and skill to house the hunted and deliver them to safety.

Photographer Edouard Moss has escaped Germany with his young daughter only to be interned in a French labor camp. His life collides with Nanée's in this sweeping tale of romance and danger set in a world aflame with personal and political passion.

Inspired by the real life Chicago heiress Mary Jayne Gold, who worked with American journalist Varian Fry to smuggle artists and intellectuals out of France, The Postmistress of Paris is the haunting story of an indomitable woman whose strength, bravery, and love is a beacon of hope in a time of terror.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 16, 2021
      Clayton (The Last Train to London) expertly renders the story of a courageous American woman’s role in the French Resistance during WWII. In 1938, Naneé Gold lives in the company of Parisian writers and artists. When the Germans invade France, Naneé flees Paris with T, the wife of her “French brother,” Danny Bénédite, whom she had lived with while studying at the Sorbonne, and the Bénédites’ young son, Peterkin. Determined to help thwart the Nazi occupation, Naneé begins working with Varian Fry, who provides aid to refugees while secretly helping artists escape, and she later embarks on a mission to free photographer and artist Edouard Moss from an internment camp. As the war rages on, Naneé takes up residence at a villa in Marseilles with Danny, T, and Peterkin following Danny’s French military service. Naneé helps Edouard search for his daughter Luki, whom he sent to Paris before his internment. As Naneé and Edouard become lovers, the intensity of their romance is heightened by the ever-present dangers from the Germans. Clayton’s lyrical, thought-provoking prose breathes life into her characters. This sterling portrait of a complex woman stands head and shoulders above most contemporary WWII fiction. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Assoc.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Soft-voiced Imani Jade Powers narrates the bulk of this novel set in Vichy, France. She is especially skilled at capturing nerve-wracking narrow escapes. Indomitable, gutsy American heiress Nane� Gold, portrayed alternately as a lighthearted socialite and a cautious spy, serves as "postmistress" to the French Resistance, delivering messages to artists and writers hiding from the Nazis. In contrast, Graham Halstead adopts a gritty, sometimes sorrowful voice for surrealist Jewish photographer Edouard Moss who, having escaped from a Nazi work camp, dreams of a reunion with his 5-year-old daughter and escape from France. Powers and Halstead fluidly shift from English to French and other European accents while emotionally depicting intense scenes of Nazi encounters. The tension is broken when Powers shifts to descriptions of somewhat normal life in Nan�e's villa in Marseilles. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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