#20backlistin2020 The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

I’ve had this to read since March, but that’s around the time everything was going haywire in the world and my life and I didn’t get the chance to read it. Natasha Lester’s novels are always brilliant, so I knew I’d have to read it at some point. I decided the only way it was going to get read this year is if I borrowed the audiobook from the library. I’m so glad that I finally made time to get to The Paris Secret.

This was another fabulous story, following two timelines, we follow Skye, Liberty, and Nicholas during childhood, then skipping to WWII where Skye is fighting for the right as a woman to fly planes and has a chance reincounter with Nicholas who she’d lost contact with for years, breaking her heart. I really enjoyed this storyline, what the women were subjected to in flying for the Air Transport Auxilary was just incredible, that they managed to do their job despite the extreme conditions they flew in, is beyond imagining.

I really loved Nicholas and Skye’s reunion and the deep connection they had between them even though there were barriers to them being together. Secrets abound due to wartime events and all the characters will face unbelievable odds to survive, many won’t, and many of the things these brave men and women did for the cause have been forgotten or ignored, especially the women’s role in the war.

In the present timeline, we meet Kat, a fashion conservator who discovers her grandmother not only owns a house in Cornwall but that it’s wardrobes are full of priceless Dior gowns. This is the start of uncovering big secrets that have been kept hidden for 50+ years. When she is contacted by Elliot, a historical biographer, the mystery deepens and the past will be exposed.

As the story unfolded and Skye’s story is told and Kat and Elliot uncover the past, I was kept guessing who had survived the war and who Kat’s grandmother actually was. A wonderful novel, that kept me listening and reading until the end.

#20backlistin2020