Haunting Paris: A Novel

Written by Mamta Chaudhry

Narrated by Lisa Flanagan and Daniel Oreskes

Paris, 1989:  Alone in her luminous apartment on Île Saint-Louis, Sylvie discovers a mysterious letter among her late lover Julien’s possessions, launching her into a decades-old search for a child who vanished in the turbulence of the Second World War. She is unaware that she is watched over by Julien’s ghost, his love for her powerful enough to draw him back to this world, though doomed now to remain a silent observer.  Sylvie’s quest leads her deep into the secrets of Julien’s past, shedding new light on the dark days of Nazi-occupied Paris. A timeless story of love and loss, Haunting Paris matches emotional intensity with lyrical storytelling to explore grief, family secrets, and the undeniable power of memory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781984891556

Reviews for Haunting Paris

[suesbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

interesting story about caring, jewish psychologist who escaped france before the holocaust. he lost his sister and 1 niece and spends much of his time searching for a 2nd niece who was not listed as dead. he meets sylvie, a shy pianist and decides to leave his cold, snobbish wife for her. she dedicates her life to his goals after his death, but his viewpoint and comments remain in the book. parts of the book were difficult to follow at times, but most of the prose was lovely. there were a few too many brave people and coincidences, but the story did get told.

[lemeritus-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I kept waiting to be as beguiled by Sylvie as some characters in this remarkable book are. Unfortunately, the remove between us was never quite breached making me impatient with a story that required patience. Nevertheless, a beautiful if flawed novel of war and peace, of love lost and found, and - unsurprisingly - of Paris. The "haunting" is both classic ghost story and history: the rounding up of French Jews - Operation Vent Printanier - during the German occupation, reminding us in our own time how few of us can rise above indifference or the temptation to ride out the squalls of evil behind closed doors.