"Viann and Isabelle have always been close despite their differences. Younger, bolder sister Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann lives a quiet and content life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. When World War II strikes and Antoine is sent off to fight, Viann and Isabelle's father sends Isabelle to help her older sister cope. As the war progresses, it's not only the sisters' relationship that is tested, but also...

"From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six,...

"1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen--children's libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains...

"An epic generational saga from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray, based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy in some of humanity's darkest hours. Most castles are protected by powerful men. This one by women ... A reluctant resistor ... 1940. French schoolteacher and aspiring artist Marthe Simone has an orphan's self-reliance and wants nothing to do with war....

"Jess needs a fresh start. She's broke and alone, and she's just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn't sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn't say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up, to find a very nice apartment, (could Ben really have afforded this?) he's not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig...

Undine Spragg is a beautiful and ambitious, yet vain and socially dense young woman with dreams of marrying a rich man. Hoping for a life of prominence and luxury, Undine convinces her family to relocate to New York. The Spragg family, who have earned their modest wealth from shady practices, are happy to accommodate Undine's request. When Undine meets Ralph Marvell, an aspiring poet from a family of old New York high society, she is determined to...

What if our homes could tell the stories of others who lived there before us? Set in a small village near Paris, The Balcony follows the inhabitants of a single estate--including a manor and a servants' cottage--over the course of several generations, from the Belle Époque to the present day, introducing us to a fascinating cast of characters. A young American au pair develops a crush on her brilliant employer. An ex-courtesan shocks the servants,...

"Anna is a supervisor in a chocolate factory, but doesn't know how to make chocolate. When an accident gives her the opportunity to work at Paris's elite chocolatier Le Chapeau Chocolat, she expects to be outed as a fraud, but learns that the sweetest things in life are always worth working for"--

Two men--one English, the other French--meet by chance in a provincial railway station and are astounded that they are so much alike that they could easily pass for each other. Over the course of a long evening, they talk and drink. It is not until he awakes the next day that John, the Englishman, realizes that he may have spoken too much. His French companion is gone, having stolen his identity. For his part, John has no choice but to take the Frenchman's...

The second installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Bruno, Chief of Police: When a bevy of winemakers descend on Saint-Denis the idyllic town finds itself the center of an intense drama, with suspicious fires at the agricultural research station that is working on genetically-modified crops.
 
Two young men—Max, an environmentalist who hopes to make organic wine, and Fernando, the...