The Last Fashion House in Paris
Renee Ryan
Love Inspired
Dec 24th, 2024
The Last Fashion House in Paris, by Renee Ryan, is a companion novel to both The Widows of Champagne and The Paris Housekeeper. This story is more historical suspense than romance and the relationship in this book between the lovers takes a backseat to the platonic relationship between the women. It is about women community where the characters are mentors, friends, sisters, and mothers. They show strength, tenacity, solidarity and resilience in WWII Nazi occupied Paris.
Paulette is from a wealthy, respected family that owns a renowned vineyard and winery. She had fallen in love with a German SS soldier and mistakenly believed he could help her Jewish mother to safety. But he betrayed her, and her mother was taken away. Her older sister, Gabrielle, sends her off to Maison de Ballard, a highly regarded fashion house in Paris because the family feels Paulette is responsible for her mother’s disappearance. It is run by a very good friend of her mother, Mademoiselle Sabine, who is deeply involved with the French resistance against the Nazi occupation. Sabine befriends Nicolle, a young war widow, and trains her for the resistance. 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. The three women risk their lives as they work together to help downed pilots escape and transport Jewish families to safety.
This is a wonderful story of redemption, forgiveness, adventure, and sisterhood. To fulfil their missions, all three women find themselves taking greater and greater chances. The plot is engaging and intriguing, showing Ryan is at the top of her game.
Elise Cooper: Is this novel a prequel or a sequel to the books The Widows of Champagne and The Paris Housekeeper?
Renee Ryan: This story is about what happened in the time spam when Paulette’s mother is sent away. I do not consider it a prequel or a sequel but a story that fills in the blanks of both previous books. I would describe them as parallel stories with some new characters. Paulette needed redemption and needed her story because in The Widows of Champagne she was left in such a bad place. She is seen as spoiled and entitled, a child who has not grown up. At the end of the book, she was furious and angry. I wondered what happened when she was in Paris. In The Paris Housekeeper Vivian, one of the main characters, becomes a shadow figure. In some ways she was the villain yet at the same time she was an anti-hero. Readers wanted to understand her motives better.
EC: How would you describe Paulette in this book?
RR: She is restless, frustrated, remorseful, shameful, angry, guilty, lonely, isolated, vulnerable, and very broken at the beginning of the book. She becomes motivated as she realizes her life must mean more. She thinks she has betrayed her mother, the only person who believed in her. She is not the typical WWII heroine because she is very privileged.
EC: How would you describe Nicolle, the new character in the story?
RR: Smart, resourceful, brave, risk taker, efficient, survivalist, loyal, strong, and lives in the shadows as a Jew. She first was a mentor to Paulette, then a friend, and finally sister-like. They have in common the loneliness and grief.
EC: What about Sabine?
RR: Compassionate, responsible, strong, confident, kind, determined, and a protector. She is the mother figure to Paulette but saw herself as the proud mother to Nicolle.
EC: What was the role of Paulette’s mother disappearance?
RR: Paulette spends this whole story redeeming herself because she had a relationship with a German SS officer. She thought she could change him. Paulette thought everything would work out because her mother always made it that way. Her mother, the one person who got her out of scrapes, was the one person she betrayed. The one person Paulette cared the most about was the one person she really hurt. She has guilt, regret, and self-loathing because of her mom.
EC: What did you mean by the powerful quote about Jews in Paris during WWII?
RR: You are referring to this quote, “A chance at a happy future, in a place where being Jewish is not a death sentence?” I wanted to show how many Parisians betrayed their Jewish neighbors, friends, and fellow countrymen. I addressed this a lot in The Paris Housekeeper. So many Parisians turned on their Jewish countrymen. The resistance was very unorganized in small groups. A Jewish person could not share their heritage even with their non-Jewish best friends. There were many Nazi roundups here. First, it was just the immigrants until it expanded to all Jews. All those roundups were orchestrated by the French police. Paris was supposed to be the City of Light, a place of beauty and art. As the genocide is happening the lights went out.
EC: What about the collaborators?
RR: I wanted to show that the black marketers lived large off their fellow citizen’s distress. It was not about ideology, but about self-comfort. One of my bad guys was based on Pierre Bonny.
EC: How would you describe Nicolette’s friend, Andre?
RR: He is quiet, loyal, intense, serious, resolute, and calm. He is very heroic, brave, and courageous. They formed a relationship from their connection with their loss and grief. She trusted him from the very beginning. He saw her as a person, a protector, friend, and equal.
EC: What about Philippe, a person Paulette depended on?
RR: Hard, ruthless, angry, condescending, caring, heroic, and grieving. He was part of the resistance. He wants to avenge his late wife’s death.
EC: Next book?
RR: I have some things I am considering. I want to have female relationships as they form a community.
THANK YOU!!
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