Publishers Weekly
08/08/2016
Sebba (That Woman), a former Reuters foreign correspondent, burrows into the lives of women in the City of Light during WWII to reveal their captivating and complicated stories. Rather than simply presenting the women as collaborators or resisters, Sebba shows the impossible choices they faced, which hardly seemed like choices at all. This is the book’s heart, and it pulsates from start to finish. That focus is slightly marred by Sebba’s broad interpretation of “Parisiennes.” She uses it to describe women who lived in the city, including French citizens and noncitizens alike, and those who didn’t spend the entire war within the confines of the city. It’s logical to include noncitizens such as Irène Némirovsky and Noor Inayat Khan, who’d both lived in France for about 20 years before the war started. But passages on the “Grey Mice”—German women who came to work in Paris during the war—belong in another book. While extending the story outside of Paris allows Sebba more range in discussing the dangers of Resistance work and the devastating deportations, it blurs what could have been an incisive, powerful portrait of an imperiled city. Sebba’s clear-eyed narrative concludes, correctly, that these women deserve understanding, not judgment. Photos. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Anne Sebba has the nearly miraculous gift of combining the vivid intimacy of the lives of women during The Occupation with the history of the time. This is a remarkable book.”
—Edmund de Waal, New York Times bestselling author of The Hare with the Amber Eyes
“As Anne Sebba makes clear in her fascinating book Les Parisiennes, there was no Hollywood clarity about life in the city of light….To read this book is to admire female bravery and resilience, but also to understand why the scars left by the Second World War still run so deep…. Sebba skilfully weaves the history of 1940’s Paris through the remarkable stories of women from all walks of life….Wonderful.”
—The Times of London, "Pick of the Week"
“Fascinating . . . Anna Sebba knows everything about Paris during the war and she relates in Les Parisiennes the end of all the whispered stories I’ve been hearing all my life. She understands everything about the chic, loathsome collaborators and the Holocaust victims, and their stories are told in an irresistible narrative flood.”
—Edmund White, bestselling author of Our Young Man
On That Woman
“A solid biography of the woman who became the King of England's excuse for abdicating his throne . . . depicts Wallis as a woman who sought power and privilege but never expected the damage she wrought or the wrath she engendered.” —The New York Times
“That Woman goes a long way in explaining how a not-quite-divorced, not-quite-beautiful American bedazzled a king out of his kingdom.” —Vogue
“Salacious and consuming, this well-researched biography will appeal to readers interested in British political and women's history.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Smart, eloquent, and unafraid to go beyond the myth of the duchess of Windsor.” —Publishers Weekly
“Brought to brilliant light in this responsible, respectful biography.” —Booklist on Jennie Churchill
“A rigorously objective book… Fascinating.” —Financial Times on Mother Teresa
Library Journal
07/01/2016
Residing in Paris during World War II meant living a life of fear. Under the Nazi regime, people were forced to make life or death decisions every day. Sebba (American Jennie) investigates a population rarely examined when discussing the City of Light in the 1940s: women. The narrative incorporates women from all walks of life: rich and poor, collaborators and resistors, Jewish wives and mothers along with those who offered them safety. In fact, the author mentions so many individuals that it can be difficult to keep track of the names, but the further readers delve into the book, the more they'll become entranced. The women of this period accomplished a lot, not only resisting Nazi influence but also keeping some semblance of normalcy in the household and among family and friends. Sebba proves that those who risked everything were never quite honored properly, taking on the task of paying respect to the lives of the Parisiennes who sacrificed for their city and the people they loved. VERDICT Despite its lengthy cast of characters, Sebba's work delivers an intriguing perspective of an overlooked group during a time when all were tested beyond their limits. Paris history buffs will enjoy a new look at the city during World War II. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/16.]—Rebecca Kluberdanz, New York P.L.
Kirkus Review
2016-07-31
An extensively researched cultural history of Paris from 1939 to 1949, covering events leading to the fall of Paris, its occupation by the Nazis, and the early postwar years.Journalist Sebba (That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, 2012, etc.), a former Reuters foreign correspondent, pored over memoirs, diaries, and letters, read books, watched films, handled artifacts, and interviewed women who lived through the events to understand how the war changed the lives of Parisiennes and how they adjusted to loss, fear, and hunger under occupation. Women were forced to make difficult choices, and the author convincingly demonstrates that this was a complicated business, that their options were limited as they struggled to live alongside their male Nazi occupiers and care for their families in the absence of men, many of whom were serving overseas or were prisoners of war. The stories show the good and bad sides of human nature as women resisted, suffered, and died or collaborated and flourished. In postwar Paris, female collaborators were publicly shamed, but the work of women resistors often went unrecognized because they were not part of an official organization. Sebba brings their stories to light and also highlights women who made less-than-honorable compromises. She seems to have a fondness for the socially prominent, making her vulnerable to the charge of name-dropping, and she gratuitously brings in big names in the fashion world—e.g., Christian Dior gets space because his sister was a member of the resistance. Since the book is divided into chapters that cover one year, individuals whose stories begin in an early year may not appear again for several years, making their narratives hard to follow. The back-of-the book list of the cast of characters is an essential guide for befuddled readers. Despite the gossipy bits, the research is impressive, and Sebba offers balance to the plethora of war histories featuring the roles of men. The book has ample material for lively discussion in women’s studies classes.
