"The Paris Dressmaker" by Kristy Cambron

In WWII Paris, dressmaker Lila de Laurent is drawn to La Resistance and is soon using her skills as a dressmaker to infiltrate the Nazi elite. Sandrine Paquet catalogs the priceless works of art bound for the Führer’s Berlin, but she also secretly forages for information from the underground resistance. Beneath her compliant façade lies a woman bent on uncovering the fate of her missing husband. Told across the span of the Nazi occupation, The Paris Dressmaker highlights the brave women who used everything in their power to resist darkness and restore light to their world.

Once I got into the rhythm of the story, I really liked it (and found it easier to keep track of what was going on). The point of view alternates between Lila and Sandrine, with two chapters from Lila's perspective--first her experiences earlier in the war and then her experiences near the end of the war---and then the same for Sandrine (beginning then end), until their histories have caught up with the turmoil of the liberation. So there is a lot of seesawing back and forth, both between characters and in time.

This was a different view of WWII than I've typically run across, as the story specifically concentrates on Paris and life under Nazi occupation, with a strong focus on art and couture. Both Lila's and Sandrine's stories depict the lives of the women of Paris and the compromises they made to survive. It gives a balanced picture of resistors and collaborators. I think I would have preferred it as two full-length novels--Lila and Sandrine don't connect until near the very end, and then not so intimately that it felt particularly impactful. But I definitely enjoyed both stories; each has a hefty dose of suspense, and both are romantic, though in different ways. It's hard to say which I liked better-- Lila's deliberate and active journey deeper into the resistance and back into the arms of the love who once spurned her, or Sandrine's careful dance with the Nazi captain as she feigns compliance while remaining true to her husband and country.

Thank you Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.