Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Nov 2018
272 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
A story of resistance, complicity, and an unlikely, transformative friendship, set in Paris, from internationally bestselling novelist Sebastian Faulks.
American historian Hannah intends to immerse herself in World War II research in Paris, wary of paying much attention to the city where a youthful misadventure once left her dejected. But a chance encounter with Tariq, a Moroccan teenager whose visions of the City of Lights as a world of opportunity and rebirth starkly contrast with her own, disrupts her plan.
Hannah agrees to take Tariq in as a lodger, forming an unexpected connection with the young man. Yet as Tariq begins to assimilate into the country he risked his life to enter, he realizes that its dark past and current ills are far more complicated than he'd anticpated. And Hannah, diving deeper into her work on women's lives in Nazi-occupied Paris, uncovers a shocking piece of history that threatens to dismantle her core beliefs. Soon they each must question which sacrifices are worth their happiness and what, if anything, the tumultuous past century can teach them about the future.
From the sweltering streets of Tangier to deep beneath Paris via the Metro, from the affecting recorded accounts of women in German-occupied France and into the future through our hopes for these characters, Paris Echo offers a tough and poignant story of injustices and dreams.
Click to the right or left of the sample to turn the page.
(If no book jacket appears in a few seconds, then we don't have an excerpt of this book or your browser is unable to display it)
"Faulks offers a subtle but affecting portrait of friendship while exploring the immense difficulty of making sense of the larger world." - Booklist
"Fans of Paula McClain and Ian McEwan will enjoy Faulks's touching tale of two Parisian visitors looking to reimagine their self-identities in a changing world." - Publishers Weekly
"Most unfortunately, the novel's twists are easy to see coming. Still, this is an entertaining novel with memorable characters. A fun romp through Paris and history, one that nevertheless makes us understand that the sins of the past are not truly past." - Kirkus
The information about Paris Echo shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
Sebastian Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 and was educated at Wellington
College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was the first literary editor of
The Independent and became deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday
before leaving in 1991 to concentrate on writing. He has been a columnist for
The Guardian (1992-8) and the Evening Standard (1997-9). He continues
to contribute articles and reviews to a number of newspapers and magazines. He
wrote and presented the Channel 4 Television series 'Churchill's Secret Army',
screened in 1999. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
His first novel, A Trick of the Light, was published in 1984. His other
novels include The Girl at the Lion d'Or (1989), set in France between
the First and Second ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Sebastian Faulks's Website
A beautifully written and uplifting debut novel.
About the bookThe Last Romantics
by Tara Conklin
A sweeping yet intimate epic about one American family, and the ties that bind us together.
Reader Reviews
Sounds Like Titanic
by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
"A tricky, unnerving, consistently fascinating memoir."
--Kirkus, starred review
Reader Reviews
The Climate Report
"The most comprehensive assessment of the effects of climate change on the United States."
–The New York Times
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.