The Postmistress of Paris - Meg Waite Clayton

There are many, many WWII novels written from a woman's perspective and/or featuring a role in the war performed by women. Bombgirls, landgirls, codebreakers and more. 

Meg Waite Clayton's new novel, The Postmistress of Paris is part of that more, bringing in another perspective. Her main character is Naneé, a wealthy American living in Paris who decides to join the French resistance. Her wealth and American passport allow her to move about freely, delivering messages to those in hiding. She's a great lead character - brave, daring and charming with a strong sense of right and wrong and duty.

She meets photographer Edouard and his young daughter Luki at a gathering of artistes. Edouard has escaped from Germany, but still must try to hide from the Vichy government. It is after this meeting that Naneé decides she must help artistes to escape and to preserve their work.

Now, here's the really neat part - Naneé is based on the life of Mary Jayne Gold, a Chicago heiress, who helped American journalist Varian Fry smuggle well-known artists and intellectuals out of France.

The book's opening chapters introduce us to the two main players, the sparks that fly between them, as well as the artistic setting/element of the book. I must admit, I did find this went on a bit too long for me. I wanted to dive right into the 'action' of the book. The hiding, the subterfuge and the danger. That does come, but Waite Clayton also stops along the way to explore other themes such as the love between a parent and child, the loss of loved ones and the sacrifices made. Different views are provided with Luki having her own chapters, as does Edouard. There are many supporting players, all just as determined with the same goal. I did find one character to be quite detestable as he plays 'games' at the house that the group shares. I thought there would be a reason he was included, but never found a meaning for his inclusion and ugliness. But he is tempered with the addition of a dog to the tale - named Dagobert.

A good addition to the WWII fiction list. Waite Clayton is a talented wordsmith and I did enjoy this novel. However, I did find it to be a bit of a slow burn for me and it felt a repetitive at times.

I chose to listen to The Postmistress of Paris. The readers were Imani Jade Powers and Graham Halstead. Powers has such a rich, melodious, honeyed tone to her voice. It's very pleasant to listen to and easy to understand. The voice for Naneé, absolutely captured the character as I had imagined her. Her speaking speed was just right. There are many French language bits to the story and I found both her pronunciation and accent to be believable. Her performance did justice to Waite Clayton's book. I've also listened to Graham Halstead in the past. He has a very resonant tone to his voice that draws the listener to him. He too speaks clearly and is easy to understand. I like his voice very much, but it wasn't quite what I imagined for Edouard. I had a softer, more continental voice in mind.That being said, he does do a fine job with his narration. Hear for yourself - listen to an audio excerpt of The Postmistress of Paris. Length is 13 hours, 10 minutes.