The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron

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1943/1952 – France

As Paris rebuilds in the aftermath of World War II, Kat Fontaine never expected the skills she learned in a French chateau kitchen to be the key that unlocks the secrets swirling in her new post-war life.

Paris, 1952–Still haunted by the years she spent serving in the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, ex-pat Kat Fontaine, now living in Paris, finds a simple cookery class led by indomitable chef Julia Child unearths the tangle of gut-wrenching memories of war. Determined to find her brother who went missing during the war and is presumed dead, Kat questions everything, especially her high-ranking society husband whose past is as murky as her own. But when the puzzle pieces start to come together–and her carefully crafted Paris world begins to fall apart–Kat must confront her own secrets against the mounting suspicions of the husband she thought she knew . . .

Rue, 1943–Deep in the heart of Nazi-controlled northern France, Manon Altier shifts between working for the enemy by day–as a French chef at the famous Chateau du Broutel, where names like Himmler, Rommel, and Goebbels frequent the guest list–and running with underground networks against the Vichy regime at night. Working undercover to filter critical information to agents within the burgeoning OSS presence in France, Manon digs deep into the glitz and glamour of a Nazi stronghold that has her teetering on the edge of being discovered at any turn. But when an intriguing stranger appears at the chateau claiming to work with the French Resistance, Manon must lean on her instincts to judge whether to run and hide or stand firm–even as a terrifying discovery tests her resolve to continue the fight.

A Fierce Devotion by Laura Frantz

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1763 – Virginia/France

Exiled from his beloved Acadie in Canada, Bleu Galant has little on his mind but survival as the tumultuous French and Indian War comes to a close. When his journey to Virginia’s Rivanna River settlement takes an unexpected turn, he crosses paths with Brielle Farrow–a woman whose presence stirs something in him he cannot explain nor express. Unable to forget her, his decision to help her takes them across an ocean into a lavish world he’s never known. Will their intricate tie decide not only her fate but his future?

The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M White

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1940 – France

In this gripping World War II historical about the power of words, two people form an unlikely friendship amid the Nazi occupation in Paris and fight to preserve the truth that enemies of freedom long to destroy.

Ever since the Nazi Party began burning books, German writers exiled for their opinions or heritage have been taking up residence in Paris. There they opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and gathered every book on the banned list . . . and even incognito versions of the forbidden books that were smuggled back into Germany.

For the last six years, Corinne Bastien has been reading those books and making that library a second home. But when the German army takes possession of Paris, she loses access to the library and all the secrets she’d hidden there. Secrets the Allies will need if they have any hope of liberating the city she calls home.

Christian Bauer may be German, but he never wanted anything to do with the Nazi Party—he is a professor, one who’s done his best to protect his family as well as the books that were a threat to Nazi ideals. But when Goebbels sends him to Paris to handle the “relocation” of France’s libraries, he’s forced into an army uniform and given a rank he doesn’t want. In Paris, he tries to protect whoever and whatever he can from the madness of the Party and preserve the ideas that Germans will need again when that madness is over, and maybe find a lost piece of his heart.

From the Valley We Rise by Elizabeth Musser

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1944 – France

Loyalty during Peril
In the heart of war-torn France, Isabelle Seauve’s resolve is tested after her father sacrifices his life to protect her involvement in the French Resistance. Heartbroken, Isabelle becomes more dedicated to hiding Jewish children in and near the village of Sisteron despite the growing danger when she discovers a traitor within the Resistance ranks.

Truth amid Deception
As the shadow of betrayal looms, Isabelle’s world collides with that of US Army Chaplain Peter Christensen, who carries emotional scars from his first position in Kentucky and his service in North Africa. Together, they face the brutal reality of war as the second D-Day–the Allied invasion of Provence–unfolds.

Bravery through Trial
Fifteen-year-old René Amblard narrowly escapes a devastating German attack that claims the lives of his mother and their fellow Maquis fighters. With a Jewish orphan girl at his side, René seeks out his cousin, Isabelle, for refuge while he contemplates revenge.

When the bombs of Operation Dragoon begin to fall, this unlikely group of heroes must find freedom in their souls before they can rebuild what has been destroyed.

The Last Fashion House in Paris by Renee Ryan

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1942 – France

In the heart of occupied WWII Paris, an elegant fashion house is the unlikely headquarters of a daring resistance network. Behind closed doors, courageous women vie to save loved ones and strangers alike from the Nazis in this powerful story of survival, friendship and second chances.

Once, Paulette Leblanc spent her days flirting, shopping and drawing elegant dresses in her sketch pad. Then German tanks rolled into France, and a reckless romance turned into deep betrayal. Blaming herself for her mother’s arrest by the Gestapo, Paulette is sent away to begin a new life in Paris, working as apprentice to fashion designer Sabine Ballard.

But Maison de Ballard is no ordinary fashion house. While seamstresses create the perfect couture gowns, clandestine deals and secrets take place out of sight. Mademoiselle Ballard is head of a vast network of resistance fighters—including Paulette’s coworker and friend Nicolle Cadieux—who help escort downed military men and Jewish families to safety.

Soon Paulette is recruited as a spy. Working as a seamstress by day, gathering information at glamorous parties by night, Paulette at last has a chance to earn the redemption she craves. But as the SS closes in, and Nicolle goes missing, Paulette must make life-and-death decisions about who to trust, who to love and who to leave behind…

Molly by Shanna Hatfield

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1918 – France

She longs to make a difference. He yearns to claim her heart.

After years of managing the Pendleton telephone office, Molly Thorsen answers the call for women to serve as telephone operators during World War I. Upon her arrival in France, she navigates the challenges of working near the front lines and battles the prejudices and skepticism of the men around her. Determined to prove her worth and skill, Molly faces adversity head-on while unexpectedly falling in love with a charming soldier.

Friday Fitzpatrick may not have been eager to engage in combat, but when he is drafted into the American Expeditionary Forces, he embraces the role of a soldier with unwavering determination. While fighting to survive the harrowing battlefield experiences, he clings to his sanity by dreaming about the captivating Hello Girl who has captured his heart. Though his opportunities to see her are limited, she serves as a beacon of hope in the midst of his darkest days.

Through their shared experiences and the trials they endure, Molly and Friday find comfort and encouragement in each other’s company, forging a connection that defies the chaos of a world in conflict. As the war draws to a close and they return home, will civilian life bring them together or pull them apart?

To Crown with Liberty by Karen Ullo

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1795 – Louisiana

In the wake of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, Alix de Morainville Carpentier—a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, now married to her gardener—seeks peace and security in the Spanish colony of Louisiana. But her journey into the man-eating swamp called Attakapas reopens the wounds of her old life in France. Alix is forced to reckon with the choices that saved her life at the cost of her honor—and perhaps her soul.

In revolutionary France, the Old World is dying; the quest for liberty, fraternity, and equality has become a nightmare where the price of dissent is blood. In the wilderness of Spanish Louisiana, a new civilization is beginning to emerge—but in this budding New World, the slave trade perpetuates the systems of oppression that sparked the revolution. Caught between old and new, scarred by trauma and grief, will Alix ever find a home where she can truly be free?

The Lady with the Dark Hair by Erin Bartels

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1879/present – France/Spain

Esther Markstrom and her artist mother have always been proud of their ancestor, painter Francisco Vella. They even run a small museum and gallery dedicated to raising awareness of his scandalously underappreciated work. But when Esther reconnects with her former art history professor, she finds her once-solid family history on shaky ground as questions arise about Vella’s greatest work–a portrait entitled The Lady with the Dark Hair.

In 1879, Catalan orphan-turned-fugitive Viviana Torrens has found sanctuary serving in the home of an aging artist in Southern France. It is in his studio that she meets Francisco Vella, a Gibraltarian merchant who sells artists’ pigments. When her past catches up to her, she is compelled to pose as Vella’s sister and join him on his travels or be deported back to Spain to stand trial. Along the way she will discover that the many parts she has been playing in order to hide her identity have far-reaching implications she never could have foreseen.

Whispers of Wisdom by Marguerite Martin Gray

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1747 – France

Nicole wanders the ancient halls of Château Chenonceau, stirring up whispers from the secrets of a queen.

Craving the wisdom of the philosophers of the day, Nicole straddles the line between servant and high society. Will acting as one of higher status bring her closer to her dreams? Perhaps not, but a treasure hunt with the knight in the tower might fulfill her longing for a while.

Pierre would avoid the senseless salons full of man-made wisdom, throwing every pamphlet aside. Yet, he journeys to Chenonceau to glean knowledge from the estate manager. His goal reaches beyond the glittery, false, societal affairs to the fields of wheat, vineyards, and orchards. No fairy tales or treasure hunts for him. Not until his encounters with Nicole invade his practical world.

Whispers and secrets conjure a treasure hunt, involving the heart as well as the mind.

What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma

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1942/2022 – France

A Family’s History Is Lost to the Ravages of WWII in Southwest France

1942
Noémie Treves, a young, pregnant Jewish woman, had her entire world shattered when she is arrested and taken to the Camp de Rivesaltes transit camp in Southwest France. No sooner does she arrive, though, than she assists in helping two young girls scheduled for transport escape to a nearby maternity hospital. The matron there befriends her and changes her name to help hide her. But nothing goes according to plan, and Hannah finds herself doing the unimaginable to save one precious life.

2022
Caitlyn Laurant is haunted by recent events in her life and hopes becoming a nurse on the mission field will help her forget. While in training, she and her friends travel to France where her grandfather was born. What should have been an easy search for his birthplace turns into anything but and reveals secrets that no one alive has ever heard.

The Paris Housekeeper by Renee Ryan

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1940 – France

German tanks rumble through the streets of Paris, forcing frightened citizens to flee. But not everyone has the luxury to leave. Camille Lacroix, a chambermaid at the world-famous Hôtel Ritz, must stay to support her family back home in Brittany. Desperate to earn money, Camille also acts as a lady’s maid for longtime guest Vivian Miller, a glamorous American widow—and a Nazi sympathizer.

Despite her distrust of the woman, Camille turns to Vivian when her friend and fellow hotel maid Rachel Berman needs help getting out of Paris. It’s then that Camille discovers that Vivian is not what she seems… The American has been using her wealth and connections to secretly obtain travel papers for Jewish refugees.

While they’re hiding Rachel in an underground bunker under a Nazi’s nose, a daring escape plan is hatched. But as the net grows tighter, and the Germans more ruthless, Camille’s courage will be tested to the extreme…

Notorious by Tamara Leigh

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1354 – France

THE KING’S SPY
For years, Lady Vianne Wardieu has navigated the intrigues of the French court, supplying the English king with intelligence and preserving her cover at the ruin of her reputation. Entangled with the King of France’s advisor, danger and sacrifice shadow her every step. When her bid to return to England is thwarted and ensnares an innocent in her schemes, she vows to escape again. But her plans falter when a man from her past appears seeking revenge. Or so she believes. Discovering he was sent by their king to extract vital information, she forces an alliance, offering secrets for aid in securing her freedom. As their paths merge and they become bound by more than necessity, Vianne strives to shield her heart from her reluctant savior, certain just as her notorious past cannot be rewritten, neither can it be forgiven.

THE KING’S MAN
Commanded by King Edward to retrieve intelligence from his spy at the French court, Sir Warin Wulfrith’s disdain for the lady’s notoriety and anger over her endangerment of his sister tests his honor—and further when she sets terms for her cooperation. As they navigate treacherous terrain to outmaneuver her pursuers, his perception of her alters when he discovers great depth and vulnerability beneath her wild beauty. With the line between duty and the need to safeguard her blurring, he questions whether his fiercely-guarded emotions are at risk of falling under her spell. And if true salvation lies not only in escaping external threats but finding solace and redemption in each other.

To Free the Stars by J’nell Ciesielski

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1927 – America/Europe

“Fate is fickle and the stars are silent, but I do know this: No matter how difficult the circumstances or how savagely the world tries to tear us apart, I am here with you.”

Ten years have passed since Jack and Ivy, elite operatives for the secret agency Talon, rescued their friend Philip and completed their fateful mission. The 1920s are in full swing as American speakeasies thrive amid Prohibition, and despite the team’s best efforts, the deadly cult, the Order of the Rising Moon, lives on in the shadows. Which is no surprise to Ivy; nothing has gone as she expected since that day after Poenari Castle.

When a wave of assassinations strikes world leaders, intel confirms the Order’s involvement. Ivy holds them responsible for the tragedy that changed her life, and she is determined to find and destroy the villains once and for all—but she must do so before their relentless assassin eliminates his next target. Her.

Except, there’s something oddly familiar about the way he moves, the way he anticipates each of her moves. It’s as if he knows her. But that’s not possible. Is it? Ivy will have to rely on every skill she’s learned if she hopes to survive—and save those she loves. No matter the cost.

Rose and the Thistle by Laura Frantz

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1715 – England/France/Scotland

Lady Blythe Hedley’s father is declared an enemy of the British crown because of his Jacobite sympathies, forcing her to flee her home in northern England. Secreted to the tower of Wedderburn Castle in Scotland, Lady Blythe awaits who will ultimately be crowned king. But in a house with seven sons and numerous servants, her presence soon becomes known.

No sooner has Everard Hume lost his father, Lord Wedderburn, than Lady Hedley arrives with the clothes on her back and her mistress in tow. He has his own problems–a volatile brother with dangerous political leanings, an estate to manage, and a very young brother in need of comfort and direction in the wake of losing his father. It would be best for everyone if he could send this misfit heiress on her way as soon as possible.

Drawn into a whirlwind of intrigue, shifting alliances, and ambitions, Lady Blythe must be careful whom she trusts. Her fortune, her future, and her very life are at stake. Those who appear to be adversaries may turn out to be allies–and those who pretend friendship may be enemies.

A Hope and a Prayer by Julie Lessman

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1945 – France

She’s in love with her best friend. He’s in love with her cousin. But when the war reveals a gift so rare, will they be saved by a hope and a prayer?

As Head Nurse at 2d Hospital in Nancy, France, Lieutenant Hope Dennehy is known for her healing touch, especially when it comes to mending the wounds and spirit of her best friend, Lieutenant Bren O’Neill. When Hope’s cousin breaks Bren’s heart, Hope is always there, helping to heal him with a friendship so anointed and deep, it threatens to break her heart too.

Flying high as a daredevil aeromedical evac pilot in the European Theatre, “Lieutenant Love” O’Neill crashes and burns when the woman he loves falls for another. Depending on the support and prayers of Nurse Hope Dennehy to save him, Bren re-evaluates his free-wheeling lifestyle when he witnesses the heinous atrocities of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Suddenly nothing in life is as important as taking care of those he loves … or is it? Battling demons from his past, Bren learns that only one thing can truly save him from himself.

A Rose for the Resistance by Angela Couch

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1940 – France

A French Woman and German Soldier Create a Truce
 
With her father in a German POW camp and her home in Ste Mere Eglise, France, under Nazi occupation, Rosalie Barrieau will do anything to keep her younger brother safe. . .even from his desire to join the French resistance. Until she falls into the debt of a German soldier—one who delivers a wounded British pilot to her door. Though not sure what to make of her German ally, Rosalie is thrust deep into the heart of the local underground. As tensions build toward the allied invasion of Normandy, she must decide how much she is willing to risk for freedom. 

Valorous by Tamara Leigh

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1346 – France

THE HONOR OF HECTOR WULFRITH

Pale rider. For all the wives lost to him, it is what some call England’s renowned trainer of knights, a name that reaches beyond those losses to the plague come out of the east. Believing it God’s will he not wed again, Hector Wulfrith resists being drawn to the courageous lady who enters a country at war with her own and, disguised as a man, trespasses on his home. However, when her resolve to obtain training for a boy she claims is Wulfrith kin drags him into her mess of murder and thievery, mutual attraction becomes something more. If he can save her, dare he risk gaining her for himself knowing her fate could prove the same as his doomed wives’? Would it not be better to encourage her to return the affections of his heir—a brother wronged for what Hector stole from him?

THE MESS OF SÉVERINE DE BARRA

Since the surrender of her town to English forces, the greatest kindness shown Séverine is that of an enemy of silvered dark hair who saved her from his own when she sought to protect her cousin. Years later, she crosses the channel to keep her word to the boy’s departed sire to place him with distant kin for knighthood training. But the trouble awaiting them in England follows them to Baron Wulfrith whom she must deceive to gain an audience—one that comes to naught though he proves her former savior. Desperate to secure her cousin’s future before the fugitive made of her endangers him, Séverine furthers her deception to obtain the baron’s aid and finds her heart turning to him. But to what lengths will one of fortified emotions go to save a French lady destined for imprisonment in the Tower of London—and possibly death?

Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin

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1940 – France

As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.

Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.

Master of WWII-era fiction Sarah Sundin invites you onto the streets of occupied Paris to discover whether love or duty will prevail

Slashed Canvas by Liz Tolsma

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1920 – France

Held prisoner by all she’s lost, Katarina’s about to lose all she has.

Princess Katarina Volstova barely escaped the Russian revolution, arriving in Paris just before the birth of her twin daughters. With her heart still captive in her homeland, she haunts the Louvre each day, spending hours gazing at one painting, lost in her pain.

Not the man he once was before the Great War, Georges Velvey hides himself away doing janitorial service in the Louvre and watching the beautiful woman whose pain seems riveted on one painting.

When Katarina returns home to find her daughters and their nanny missing, the loss opens her eyes to all she has to lose now.

Frantic to find her girls, her distress causes Georges to offer his assistance. Together they put together clues to a puzzle they must complete before the kidnapper ensures Katarina and her daughters are never reunited.

The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson

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1943/Present Day – France/Oregon

Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker who works tirelessly in Vichy France to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. After crossing the treacherous Pyrénées, Grace returns home to Oregon with a brother and sister whose parents were lost during the war. Though Grace and her husband love Élias and Marguerite as their own, echoes of Grace’s past and trauma from the Holocaust tear the Tonquin family apart.

More than fifty years after they disappear, Addie Hoult arrives at Tonquin Lake, hoping to find the Tonquin family. For Addie, the mystery is a matter of life and death for her beloved mentor Charlie, who is battling a genetic disease. Though Charlie refuses to discuss his ties to the elusive Tonquins, finding them is the only way to save his life and mend the wounds from his broken past.