The Room on Rue Amélie

Kristin Harmel — 2018

For fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls, this powerful novel of fate, resistance, and family—by the international bestselling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting and When We Meet Again—tells the tale of an American woman, a British RAF pilot, and a young Jewish teenager whose lives intersect in occupied Paris during the tumultuous days of World War II. When newlywed Ruby Henderson Benoit arrives in Paris in 1939 with her French husband Marcel, she imagines strolling arm in arm along the grand boulevards, awash in the golden afternoon light. But war is looming on the horizon, and as France falls to the Nazis, her marriage begins to splinter, too. Charlotte Dacher is eleven when the Germans roll into the French capital, their sinister swastika flags snapping in the breeze. After the Jewish restrictions take effect and Jews are ordered to wear the yellow star, Charlotte can’t imagine things getting much worse. But then the mass deportations begin, and her life is ripped forever apart. Thomas Clarke joins the British Royal Air Force to protect his country, but when his beloved mother dies in a German bombing during the waning days of the Blitz, he wonders if he’s really making a difference. Then he finds himself in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, and he discovers a new reason to keep fighting—and an unexpected road home. When fate brings them together, Ruby, Charlotte, and Thomas must summon the courage to defy the Nazis—and to open their own broken hearts—as they fight to survive. Rich with historical drama and emotional depth, this is an unforgettable story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

Reviews

Inez@cnneyislnd

Aug 7, 2022

I think this is my first historical themed I've read. It took me a whole week to finish this one, not because this was a boring one ㅡ this was really good, carefully written, the characters are nicely described too. The book was loosely based on a real person, telling us a story about an American who lived in the middle of war and helped the pilots. Yes, she fell in love. The ending is sad, not to the point I shed a tear but it breaks my heart.

Anna Campbell@ajcampbell

Mar 3, 2022

I listened to it on Audible for my book club! I liked the book, but it felt rushed.

Jacklyn O’Brien @judge_a_book_by_this_blog

Oct 13, 2021

I am a huge fan of Harmel's and this is another 5 star read for me!

Erin @pagesofmilkandhoney

Aug 30, 2021

Paris? Check. History? Check. Heart-wrenching twists of fate? Check. This book has everything I love about historical novels. I am basically forbidden from giving this a low rating just because it contains my favorite elements. The first part is slow and the number of people you want to strangle is about three (Nazis not included), but the second half is much more exciting and the plot gets much more interesting. You'll still probably want to strangle a few people, but hey, that's expected. While you'd think this book is predictable, it really isn't. Some elements are, and a few plot lines seem a bit obvious, but their conclusions were what threw me. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I guarantee the old couple at the beginning of the novel is not who you think it is. Yes, there are some heartbreaking parts, but in a novel about WWII, that's hardly unexpected. What I think this book does well is make a non-poetic time period sound like it could be poetry in the simplest words possible, but also illustrates that even the smallest person can have a large impact. In all the books about WWII, I think this one stands out, and for good reason. 3.5 stars. This review also appears on my blog in a longer, more cohesive post (and is also probably a lot better than this rambling of words I quickly put together (but also probably not)) here. I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ashley Dellefave@ashleyyyreads

Aug 29, 2021

I feel bad for giving this 3 stars, it was more like 3.5 for me. I’m not usually one for historical fiction but I’ve always been drawn to WWII and different moments in France’s history, so that helped to keep me interested. Moments were very intense and heartbreaking and pulled me in, but it also took me a while to get truly interested, and I feel iffy about the ending. All in all a decent read.