Review: The Lost Song Of Paris by Sarah Steele*

*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: The Lost Song Of Paris
Author: Sarah Steele
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings:  War, Antisemitism, Suicide, Death Of A Partner

Rating: ★★★★

The Lost Song Of Paris is told through a dual timeline narrative, sharing the stories of Sophie (aka Agent ‘Colette’) in the 1940s and Amy in 1997. Amy is an archivist who was recently widowed and is researching Agent Colette, leading to her meeting the agent’s MI6 'godmother' Verity Cooper. Much of Agent Colette’s story is told retrospectively as an elderly Verity tells Amy the story she has kept secret for sixty years. We also get a story within a story following Amy trying to process her grief following the death of her husband Michael.

The idea of a character being shunned by her friends and neighbours for being a ‘Nazi collaborator’ when truly she was an undercover operative for the Allies was a fascinating premise which was really well executed. The story perfectly captured how crucial the work of SOE agents was to the war effort and ultimate Allied success. I also enjoyed the double identity aspect, with Verity despising Sophie, his brother’s girlfriend, and having full admiration for Colette, despite them being the same person.

The Lost Song Of Paris was impeccably researched and historical details were seamlessly woven into the narrative. Although the story is largely fiction, certain plot points such as the SOE agent discovery of the existence of V1 and V2 rockets truly happened and it was nice to give a little nod to the real SOE agents who were involved in this.

The narrative was relatively slow paced for the first half of the novel as they took the time to world build and establish the characters but this pace was dramatically increased during the second half and it had me on the edge of my seat. Whilst being mindful of avoiding spoilers, I thought the ending was really cleverly crafted to include the elements of a happily ever after many readers crave whilst also capturing the horrific impact of war and Nazi persecution.

I enjoyed the exploration of Verity’s fear of having to return to being a housewife after the war as this was a common experience of woman called up for war work. Bill’s deep rooted misogyny and view that his wife should not be working and contributing to the war effort because woman belong in the home as wives and mothers honestly made my blood boil but I recognise how common this viewpoint actually was eighty years ago.

One of the things I struggled with in The Lost Song Of Paris was the way the narrative continuously jumped forward suddenly, missing out months or even years at a time. This was a particular issue with regards to Sophie’s initial escape from and then later return to occupied Paris. Sophie’s travel from occupied Paris to London via Spain is glossed over when it could have been a really interesting aspect to the story. And then, following her time in London and her starting to regain her memory, we are suddenly jumped forward two years to 1943. This missed out further crucial aspects of Sophie’s story, including her retraining as an agent following her memory loss and reintegrating herself into her undercover life in Paris. Whilst I can in part understand a need in WW2 Historical Fiction to feature occasional jumps forward in time in order to cover the full six year war where appropriate, in this case it felt like the jumps forward cut out really important parts of the wartime experiences of the character, therefore affecting the flow of the novel overall. It felt overall that the book needed to be a couple of hundred pages longer to fully tell the story and do it justice.

I do feel like the murder of one of Sophie’s close Jewish friends deserved a lot more attention than it was given. Her death was mentioned in a single sentence in Chapter 20 and then the narrative was moved on and I think this was a mistake as ultimately, it’s a significant contributing factor to Sophie’s motivation for continuing to fight against the Nazi regime. Exploring the persecution and ultimately murder of her Jewish friends and neighbours and Sophie’s feelings towards this would have given us further insight into what has spurred her courage and determination to keep fighting against the Nazi regime.

Overall, The Lost Song Of Paris is a powerful and moving story which perfectly captures the bravery of the SOE agents during the Second World War. Sarah Steele has an enchanting way of storytelling which had me hooked and she’s created a story which is a must-read for fans of historical fiction.