After seeing so many recommendations for "The Paris Daughter", even though not my normal genre, I put it on hold. I decided to give it a try because of the rave reviews. Part way I closed the book, as it was so heart wrenching and we had recently had a loss in our family. Holding it and trying to decide whether to keep reading I read Martha Hall Kelly's comment "Tore up my heart and put it back together again". I had to continue with hopes of my heart being put back together. Kristin Harmel's beautiful writing kept me going.

Elise is shattered by guilt. She had left her daughter to save her, and now her daughter is dead. She struggles to live as an artist, unable to move forward.

*1960 - New York:*

15 years later, Elise has moved to New York. She is still searching for closure. A friend tells her he saw Juliette Foulon alive - living in New York City with a young woman named Lucie.

Elise tracks them down. She confronts Juliette.

And there she learns the terrible, gut-wrenching twist:

That night of the bombing, Juliette had to make an impossible choice in the fire and smoke. Both little girls were buried, screaming. She could only save one.

*She saved Elise's daughter Mathilde, but had to claim she was her own daughter Lucie to survive.*

The Lucie who survived is actually Mathilde - Elise's Paris Daughter. Juliette kept the secret for 15 years out of trauma, love, and fear that Elise would hate her for letting her own daughter die.