Paris Hours [Paperback] George, Alex

Product Description

“Like All the Light We Cannot See, The Paris Hours explores the brutality of war and its lingering effects with cinematic intensity. The ending will leave you breathless.” ―Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train and A Piece of the World

One day in the City of Light. One night in search of lost time.

Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But amidst the dazzling creativity of the city’s most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they’ve lost.

Camille was the maid of Marcel Proust, and she has a secret: when she was asked to burn her employer’s notebooks, she saved one for herself. Now she is desperate to find it before her betrayal is revealed. Souren, an Armenian refugee, performs puppet shows for children that are nothing like the fairy tales they expect. Lovesick artist Guillaume is down on his luck and running from a debt he cannot repay―but when Gertrude Stein walks into his studio, he wonders if this is the day everything could change. And Jean-Paul is a journalist who tells other people’s stories, because his own is too painful to tell. When the quartet’s paths finally cross in an unforgettable climax, each discovers if they will find what they are looking for.

Told over the course of a single day in 1927, Alex George's The Paris Hours takes four ordinary people whose stories, told together, are as extraordinary as the glorious city they inhabit.

Review

Praise for The Paris Hours

An IndieNext Pick and Book of the Month Club Selection

“What a design! George expertly crosscuts between various plots, coaxing them closerand closer as evening draws on. The tinder has been set and the fire is lit asthe action converges on a raucous cabaret in Montmartre.”
―TheNewYork Times Book Review

“Exquisite…A testimony to the life-changing power of a single day, the book reads like a Jazz Age Les Miserables.”
―Columbia Tribune

"What makes this tale work so well?...George knows his way around the world...He writes with a keen edge...[He takes] readers through the streets of Paris--not the Paris that tourists flock to but the Paris that houses real Parisians."
―St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“The story explores the effects and events of World War I and the magnificence of Paris through the lens of the four characters, and the climax brings their paths together in an exciting read that you won't be able to put down.”
―CNN.com

“No other recent novel both embraces and transcends its Parisian setting like Alex George’s new book, The Paris Hours…Brims with beauty, music, tragedy, uncertainty, and hope…Resonate[s] deeply.”
―Chicago Review of Books

“Paris between the world wars is the setting for this novel, which unfolds over the course of one day in 1927 and includes a cast of characters such as Camille, the maid of Marcel Proust, a journalist named Jean-Paul, a down-on-his-luck artist named Guillaume who has a meeting with Gertrude Stein, and more.”
―New York Post (A Best Book of the Week)

"Four lives converge in this page-turning blend of fact and fiction."
―GoodMorningAmerica.com

“A captivating tale of Parisian life during the roaring ‘20s.”
―BuzzFeed

“Lovingly written and focused in scope, with plenty of mystery and surprises…Those seeking an immersive read set in 1920s Paris will enjoy this emotional ride, providing a glimpse into the desires and lives that walked the streets of Paris in the shadow of the Great War.”
―Historical Novel Society

"Delicious."
―AARP

“Spellbinding…A story steeped in emotion, in yearning, in the desperate wish to change the past, and who among us can’t relate to such a thing?... I raced through the final third, breathless to find out how it would conclude.
―Veranda Magazine (Book Club pick)

“The Paris Hours is the kind of book that almost demands to be devoured; it’s hard to avoid being swept away by the journeys undertaken by each of these regular, yet remarkable people. Evocative a