The Paris Notebook: An utterly gripping and emotional WW2 historical fiction novel, based on a true story
£6.40£8.50 (-25%)
‘Gripping, compelling and beautiful.’ Emma Cowell, author of The House in the Olive Grove
A secret big enough to destroy the Führer’s reputation. . .
January 1939:
When Katja Heinz secures a job as a typist at Doctor Viktor’s clinic, she doesn’t expect to be copying top secret medical records from a notebook.
At the end of the first world war, Doctor Viktor treated soldiers for psychological disorders. One of the patients was none other than Adolf Hitler. . .
The notes in his possession declare Hitler unfit for office – a secret that could destroy the Führer’s reputation, and change the course of the war if exposed. . .
With the notebook hidden in her hat box, Katja and Doctor Viktor travel to Paris. Seeking refuge in the Shakespeare and Company bookshop, they hope to find a publisher brave enough to print the controversial script.
But Katja is being watched. Nazi spies in Paris have discovered her plan. They will stop at nothing to destroy the notebook and silence those who know of the secret hidden inside. . .
Readers LOVE The Paris Notebook!
‘Historical fiction devotees will flock to this romantic thriller superimposed over real settings and events of WWII… this is a captivating story based on authentic artifacts from the era.’ Booklist
‘So many twists and turns and I certainly didn’t predict the ending. Five stars from me, I highly recommend this book.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘An amazing story set during World War Two. Beautifully written characters you fall in love with from the very first page.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A mix of danger, suspense, mystery, romance and heartbreaking choices make for a story I would definitely recommend.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A unique historical fiction story that stands out from other books in the genre.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A bold, strong story and one that drew me in from the start. It is emotional, unique, fast paced, intriguing, engrossing and a book I just couldn’t put down!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A wonderfully written, lovely paced book. I read late into the night, couldn’t wait to see what happened.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Loved this book. It was filled from the first page to last with action and surprises!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Additional information
| Publisher | HQ Digital (13 April 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 400 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0008564442 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008564445 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm |
by gill, Cotswolds
What if it was spring 1939… and you knew a secret so damaging it could topple Hitler.
German Katja does and the exciting premise of this beautifully written novel is how that secret is the true and very unstable state of the furthers mental (ill) health.
Like Tessa’s previous book, “The Light We Left Behind” this novel takes a true, largely unknown nugget of WW2 history and transforms it into in a captivating, emotionally charged story.
Here the ’nugget’ is how in 1918, a young Adolf was treated by a psychiatrist following a mustard gas attack. It can be presumed that any mind doctor would have identified a serious mental disorder in this patient. We know the doctor’s name and that he made full notes. But not what had happened to them by the time war broke out.
So the ‘gold’ of this nugget is how might Europe in1939 react if that doctor was able to tell the world what Hitler was really like. Could the war be stopped, even before it started?
This is Katja’s fervent belief. We meet her as her boss, psychiatrist Dr Viktor tasks her with typing up those notes – the Paris Notebook of the title. Such is her courage that she will go on to risk her life, and the lives of those that she loves as she strives to make public the notes.
Whilst the plotting is stunning – especially as it weaves between Berlin and Paris – it is the integrity and believability of the characters that made me gasp. I was by turns scared, excited and consumed with Katja and sad, furious, amused and enthralled by Daniel, an Irish writer she meets in Paris.
Other characters are superbly drawn too. Katja’s anxious mother. Daniel’s bohemian friends. You feel what they endure in 1930s Germany; you soak up the innocence in a France yet to fall.
The main action takes place over around eight months. I got into the story right from page one and could have read and read on without putting it down.
However! As with books that I truly love, I decided to savour this one and split it over several weekends, all the more to soak up the authentic period detail and the joy of reading about characters who do what it right, not what is easy.
I adored this book.
I gasped. I cried. Finally – I sat back satisfied. I’d been on an exhilarating journey – and it had been very worthwhile.
If you enjoy novels with strong characters and plots that you cannot predict, then I am sure that you will love it too.
A highly deserved Five Stars
by yvonne s.
Still to read on kindle
by K. Roberts
Really enjoyed this book, the authors notes at the end are definitely worth a read too. Please read it.
by Jean S.
Great story. Well written. Lots of highs and lows. It describes the cruelties and injustices of WW2.
by Vanessa Hill
This book was so good until the unrealistic pathetic ending ruined it all. Such a shame. Worth reading if you don’t mind crappy endings.
by Mrs. Mary Mcginlay
a great page turner
by Welsh Annie
There are times when I think I might be growing tired of wartime stories – and then a book like this one comes along, beautifully written and with such stunning originality, and I wonder what on earth why on earth I ever thought that. A piece of fiction, but built around a kernel of truth, with real events, characters and locations – the author’s afterword is almost as fascinating as the book itself – with an added layer of “what if” that made it a totally compelling story.
In 1939 Hamburg, with the Nazi threat becoming ever more evident, Katja – struggling with the care of her frail mother, and her own grief over the death of her activist father in the early book burnings – unexpectedly secures a job as personal assistant to psychiatrist Doctor Viktor. Entrusted with the transcription of a notebook, she slowly realises that the clinical notes she’s working on have an immense importance – the doctor treated Adolf Hitler following a gas attack in WW1, and they hold major secrets about his mental health that, if shared, could have a considerable value in changing the course of history. She travels with the doctor to Paris, in an attempt to get the notes published – and, as an avid book lover, finds herself in Shakespeare and Company, where she meets Daniel. He’s a newspaper journalist, struggling with the recent loss of his wife and child, drinking too much – but, as Katja’s world falls apart, might just offer her the support she needs to achieve her aim of getting the notebook and its important information into allied hands and into the public domain.
Katja is a quite wonderful heroine – young and at first naive, but with a developing steely determination to achieve her objective, showing exceptional bravery in the furtherance of the mission she really believes in. And I entirely believed in her, willing her on at every turn and through every heartbreaking setback. The world the author builds around her is wonderfully researched and recreated, and searingly real – the well-drawn individuals who stand in her way and work against her, the support she finds when her task seems impossible, the increase of Nazi oppression in Hamburg itself and the approaching threat of invasion when in Paris. The writing is just wonderful – after a necessarily steady start to introduce the characters and their context, the tension and pace really ramp up together with that feeling of suspense and mounting danger that made the book quite impossible to set aside. There’s a lot of exceptionally well-developed drama, but there’s a relationship story in here too – an all-consuming love story that had the perfect emotional touch, very real and particularly engaging, between two characters who already held my heart in their hands.
This book really was quite exceptional in so many ways – without question one of my books of the year, with an unforgettable impact, and I recommend it really highly.
by Bookworm
A book about people who risked their lives standing up to the Nazis and those who could have done more to stop Hitler.