An American In Paris by Siobhan Curham

This was a story on many levels. The present and the past brought together by a journal of 1937 Paris and found on a simple farm in Arkansas, USA. Florence is our original stalwart who has come to Paris as it has always been a dream of hers to live the Parisian life and savour it to the full. Meeting Otto was a life changing event for her - it was simply asking directions to her pensione! and everything changed. The story goes on to document the changes in Paris and Florence's own life when Otto decides to go back to his country in Austria (with a very dire future) with what we know happened in Austria. Florence pursues her life in Paris in a different style - still entertaining people at the club she originally joined, but now her clients are the upper rank Germans whom she despises but whom she must patronize if she is to glean any information which will be useful for the British for whom she clandestinely works. The story is complicated and the journal is written as a memoir of Florence as a much older lady. Her grand daughter Sage escaping an internet trolling goes to Arkansas to try to leave her influencer background and followers behind. It is she who is given the journal and then discovers the background of her grandmother, and her mother and the relations she never had. Always believing that she was unwanted and abandoned, she now finds a family. History in the form of historical fiction well told, with a poignant love story told and two distinct time lines as well. Sent by Bookouture for a unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.