It was an interesting take on a dual-timeline of an actress and a seamstress in Paris during ww2 and a cancer-survivor writer trying to find answers to secrets about their story. 

The book attempts to show how gray things were back then, with women being deemed collaborators after sleeping either Nazis but often having various reasons for doing so. That part fell a little short for me as these characters’ reasons were either partly or wholly self-serving rather than doing so for honorable or covert motives. That to me isn’t gray, and doesn’t compare to active resistors or those with no choice, so I struggled to like the characters based on that. Others may not care but I wasn’t a fan when there are so many others who sacrificed for integrity. 

The current timeline with Ruby was ok but as a 2x cancer survivor myself, I was a little annoyed with some inaccuracies, or at the very least, highly unlikely aspects of Ruby’s story and treatment. The narrator for her also fell short for me as she didn’t have any accent for a French woman, while the other narrator did so. It just felt inconsistent. 

Overall the story was good and intriguing, but I just struggled with all the female main characters across the board. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook. All opinions are mine.