I will say this about this book, thank God for Coco Chanel and Arletty! Those two women made the book worthwhile reading. I found the beginning of the book very hard to get into thanks to Olivia Olsen, this young artist who has come to Paris to paint. She's just the kind of character I have a problem with, a young naive thing that on the very first pages of the book meets a young anarchist that will take her by storm. I was not amused, I found Olivia to be boring to be very frank. However, I kept on reading because as I wrote before there were two bright spots in this book Coco Chanel and the French actress Arletty. Personally, I wouldn't have minded that Olivia had been cut out of the picture and the book had been just about Coco Chanel and Arletty. Although I have to admit Olivia's role become more interesting after the Germans occupied France and she started to help the Resistance.

At first, I gave the book 4-stars, but after some consideration did I lower the rating to 3-stars. And, that's because I've read two books previously by Marius Gabriel that I really enjoyed, The Ocean Liner and The Designer. The Parisians can't really measure up to them. It's just not as interesting, unfortunately. Still, there are some really good parts in the book, well everything concerning Coco Chanel and Arletty. I felt that Olivia's personality was truly bland and I felt it the most when she interacted with them. She grew a bit better towards the end, but still, the stars of this book were Coco Chanel and Arletty!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!> ( )

I really enjoyed this book in which of the three main female characters, two were real people who lived in France and at the Ritz during the German occupation of WWII. Historical fiction usually drives me to research more about the real-life people who are included and to research the accuracy of the story with regard to them. In this case, I did this pretty early on as there was a relationship in here with one character that immediately caused me to question if it was accurate or more of a current political agenda being included in the story. I confirmed that it was accurate (when you get there, you'll know what I'm talking about). I've read reviews where someone commented that they enjoyed the two story-lines about Arletty and Coco Chanel but not the one of Olivia Olsen. I enjoyed all three and especially liked the overlap between them all. Thinking back on this, it is a bit heartbreaking that the futures in the book of Arletty and Coco were not very overly happy ones. Olivia's balanced that out. This book has inspired me to learn more about Arletty and Coco and to explore on my own and that is probably the thing that I love most about historical fiction so this book was definitely a 4 star rating! ( )

World War II novels set in Paris or London and dealing with Resistance fighters have become their own genre, and some are just awful. This one, however, is fairly good and deals with actually characters of the time: Coco Chanel and the French actress, Arletty.

The story revolves around a young American artist who becomes a chambermaid at the Hotel Ritz and is recruited by the OSS to take pictures of German documents to pass on to London. ironically, since this is the main character in the book, it's the weakest part of the novel because it is so unlikely. But the details of life in occupied Paris, the brutality of the Germans, and the ways Parisians accommodated themselves to the occupation is very, very real.

Not too many surprises in the plot, but the author is a good enough writer that the reader keeps turning the pages. ( )

Another WWII book, The Parisians was a superb read. It was heavy on the real persons (a good thing) such as Coco Chanel, Hermann Goring, Arlette (Machal), athlete Violet Morris turned Gestapo torturer and Swedish Raol Wallenberg. Most of the action takes place at the Ritz Hotel, which the Nazis did commandeer (with a 90% discount) as their headquarters. A great book depicting both the collaborators as well as the resistance ( )

As an artist, Olivia finds Paris to be a much harder place to make a living than she expected. Forced to find work Olivia joins the staff at the Ritz as a chambermaid. As the Nazi's take over Paris, they also take over the luxurious rooms and spaces of the Ritz. Forced to clean the rooms of top Nazi's, Olivia finds an opportunity to work for the allies, photographing documents left strewn about their rooms.

This was a very interesting story. The characters were very realistic and dynamic. I particularly loved how real historical figures were woven into the story. I look forward to reading more from this artist. Overall, highly recommended. ( )