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A review by megsreads
The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester
5.0
A young, Parisian seamstress. A big New York dream. Family secrets that devastate.
While falling under the larger umbrella of historical fiction, this book reads more like a family drama and romance with a fairly distant backdrop of WWII ravaged France. Estella Bissette is a young seamstress in Paris working alongside her mother in an atelier. As World War II begins and the Germans gain a foothold in France, Estella’s mother, Jeanne, her Maman, sends her to America on the SS Washington, the last ship to leave France. Estella arrives in New York with a suitcase, her mother’s sewing machine, and the dream of setting up her own atelier in New York City’s fashion district.
Fabienne Bissette, Estella’s granddaughter, absolutely adores her aging grandmother. Fabienne respects Estella’s legacy, but until she learns of the tragedy and heartbreak her grandmother endured both before escaping France and upon arriving in America, she doesn’t truly understand the life that Estella built from nothing. As the two timelines and narratives weave together, Fabienne discovers the family secrets that her grandmother has long kept buried and it makes for a truly captivating read. I can’t remember the last time I actually cried while reading, but a particular scene toward the end just had me absolutely choked up. This book is quite the rollercoaster of emotions and will thrill and devastate you alike!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Be brave. Love well and fiercely. Be the woman I always knew you would be.
While falling under the larger umbrella of historical fiction, this book reads more like a family drama and romance with a fairly distant backdrop of WWII ravaged France. Estella Bissette is a young seamstress in Paris working alongside her mother in an atelier. As World War II begins and the Germans gain a foothold in France, Estella’s mother, Jeanne, her Maman, sends her to America on the SS Washington, the last ship to leave France. Estella arrives in New York with a suitcase, her mother’s sewing machine, and the dream of setting up her own atelier in New York City’s fashion district.
Fabienne Bissette, Estella’s granddaughter, absolutely adores her aging grandmother. Fabienne respects Estella’s legacy, but until she learns of the tragedy and heartbreak her grandmother endured both before escaping France and upon arriving in America, she doesn’t truly understand the life that Estella built from nothing. As the two timelines and narratives weave together, Fabienne discovers the family secrets that her grandmother has long kept buried and it makes for a truly captivating read. I can’t remember the last time I actually cried while reading, but a particular scene toward the end just had me absolutely choked up. This book is quite the rollercoaster of emotions and will thrill and devastate you alike!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️