While this story starts in World War II the meat of the book takes place in 1953. So, if you are tired of books set in World War Ii I would urge you to give this book a try. It involves a much different quandary than just surviving the war.

Jean-Luc and Charlotte Beauchamps have an idyllic life in Santa Cruz on the California coast. They grew up in Paris and experienced the Nazi occupation of that city but it is 8 years since the war was won by the Allies and that time is far from their thoughts. One morning, however, their calm life is shattered when two police officers pay Jean-Luc a call. They take him to their headquarters and question him about his activities during the war but then they release him. Back home, Charlotte nervously gets their son, Sam, ready for school and walks him to the school yard. Normally she would get together for coffee with the other ladies in the neighbourhood but she can't face them today. Although Jean-Luc is not charged this incident causes both of the Beauchamps to think about their life in Paris when they met in 1944. Jean-Luc worked for the railroad and he was sent to maintain the tracks near the prison camp of Drancy. He never saw the prisoners because the trains carrying them left at night but everyone knows that many Jews are being sent east. Jean-Luc can't imagine that they will be only put to work; he knows they are going to their death. In a courageous but foolhardy attempt to stop the trains he manages to injure himself. He is sent to the hospital where Charlotte works. Mostly Germans are treated in this hospital so it is a welcome change to have another French-speaking person under her care. They agree to meet after he is released from hospital and quickly they fall in love. Charlotte comes from a wealthy family whereas Jean-Luc is working class so Charlotte's family are not happy about their relationship. It is clear that something happened to the couple during the war so when the same police officers return for Jean-Luc it is not a huge surprise. It also didn't surprise me why, this time, he was arrested. During a prisoner rail transfer something went wrong with the train and the maintenance men were called to fix it. The prisoners on a car had to be off-loaded; one of them, new mother Sarah, hands Jean-Luc her infant son. Jean-Luc manages to get away from the train station and goes to Charlotte's home. Charlotte's mother takes charge of caring for the baby and, to Charlotte's amazement, has a plan for Jean-Luc to get away from France. Charlotte convinces her mother that the plan will work better if she goes with Jean-Luc and the baby. In California Jean-Luc learns that Sarah and her husband, David, survived the death camps and have been searching for their son ever since the end of the war. Jean-Luc is extradited to France where he is convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to two years in prison. The court also determines that Sam must be returned to his birth parents. Sam has just learned the circumstances of his birth and has no desire to even meet, let alone live with, his birth parents. He doesn't even speak French because Jean-Luc thought it was best for all of them to embrace the American way of life. Can Sam learn to care for these strangers and adapt to a new language, school and faith? For Sarah and David it was the thought of their son that gave them the will to survive Auschwitz. They will do anything to have him back but Samuel is no longer a baby and he refuses to acknowledge them as his parents. What is the best thing for Sam because, surely, that has to be the paramount consideration.

I think the author did a great job of portraying all the main characters. I empathized with all of them but especially with Sam/Samuel. Of course, this is fiction and there is no indication that this is based on any real experience.I would like to think that courts would have been wiser than to send a young boy to a country and people that he didn't know away from the people who he considered his parents. But, in the 1950s and 1960s, quite a few children were removed from their homes and sent to live with people they had no connection with. One only has to think of the Indian residential schools and the 60s sweep to see that in real life. ( )

This is a believable, strong story of some of the trials and tribulations which impacted the lives of almost all citizens during World War Two. I took a long while to read this book, partly because I did not wish to face the truth of what the story would reveal as I read on. Eventually I finished the last 200 pages in one day, and I have to say I had tears rolling down my cheeks for some of the time. Heartfelt and heart-wrenching are not loose words, the story is powerful, and at the heart of it, the young child who is the central character of the novel. ( )

‘While Paris Slept’ by Ruth Druart is World War Two story with a difference. It focusses on the lives of two couples and how one incident, a decision made in seconds, challenges the four people involved to define their own perception of true, selfless love and the heart-wrenching sacrifices this may mean.
This is a dual-timeline story. It starts in 1953, California. One morning the police call at the home of Jean-Luc Beauchamp and take him in for questioning. He is unsurprised. His wife Charlotte and son Sam do not know what is happening.
Interleaved with the story unfolding in 1953, we see Jean-Luc as a young man in occupied Paris, 1944. He is conscripted as a rail maintenance worker based at the Drancy station from where French Jews were transported to Auschwitz. At weekends he travels home to see his mother in Paris but does not admit the things he sees and suspects. Ashamed that people may think he is a collaborator, he determines to do his part. He is injured in an attempt to damage the rail track and is taken to the German hospital where he is nursed by a young French girl, Charlotte. Charlotte, who took the job at the urging of her mother to do something useful, also wants to fight back against the occupiers. Then one day at Drancy a young woman on her way to Auschwitz, suspecting the fate awaiting her and her husband, thrusts her newborn baby into Jean-Luc’s arms. She says his name is Samuel. What follows is an exploration of the lengths people will go to for the true love of defenceless child. And at the heart of it all, subjected to the decisions made by adults, is Samuel.
It is a detailed story, slow to build, as the early pages add to the definition of the later events. At times I wanted to stay in one timeline for longer, rather than swapping between 1953 and 1944, but this is a powerful emotional story that is worth sticking with.
A strong story that doesn’t turn away from difficult issues; the rights, the wrongs and the hazy bits in between.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ ( )

This book was both engaging and difficult to read at times. The setting - centered around events in World War II Paris - is a familiar one, but sometimes I think authors just want to find new ways to break my heart. Jean-Luc works for the railroad, and he sees the trains (and the unfortunate people who board them) regularly. He, and the women he falls in love with, Charlotte, want to find a way to resist, but even small attempts go awry. Then, one day, a mother boarding the trains pushes her newborn baby into Jean-Luc's arms, in a desperate hope to save the little boy's life. Jean-Luc and Charlotte flee France with the baby, and eventually make a life in America, while raising the boy as their own son. But the boy's parents manage to survive the horrors of the concentration camps and they want to be reunited with their missing son, causing a cascade of heartbreaking events and questions about how to do the right thing. Overall, this was a wonderful book, but also one that could be difficult to read at times. ( )

This was another WWII heart jerker! Jean-Luc is thrust into an impossible situation one morning when he is supposed to be fixing the tracks for the train to leave. He has heard the rumors, but he has never seen for his own eyes, and now it is right in front of him Cattle trains packed with people. He cannot believe what he sees and knows this is the last straw, he can no longer do nothing. As he is figuring out his next move, a woman trusts an infant into his hands, and then melts back into the crowd.

What the heck is he supposed to do with a baby? Why did she target him, and now what. He can’t be seen with an infant. He makes a split second decision and heads to the house of a nurse and the woman he has started a budding romance with. She will help him. Her mother cannot believe Jean-Luc has come here and put them all at risk, what was he thinking taking this infant? Charlotte knows if they do not care for this child, it will surely die. They make a hasty decision, going against her mothers wishes.

Almost a decade later, and life is good. They are safe in America with their son and have no thought of war or what they dealt with in their past. Some officers show up one day wanting to talk to Jean-Luc, they are researching some things and need him to answer some questions. Their worst fear has come to reality and they never thought they’d have to make a harder decision then escaping to America all those years ago.

I can’t give too much away, as this novel was SO good, you need to read it! Another one to add to the WWII list. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the free book, I had my eye on this one was soon as I saw it being advertised. ( )