The Last Restaurant in Paris - by Lily Graham (Paperback)

About the Book

"Paris 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy. In enemy-occupied Paris, music and laughter spill through the door of a little restaurant crowded with German soldiers. The owner, Marianne, moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart. One night the restaurant closes its doors for the final time. In the morning, the windows are scratched with the words traitor and murderer. And Marianne has disappeared without a trace... Years later, Marianne's granddaughter, Sabine, stands under the faded green awning of the restaurant left to her. When Sabine discovers the locals blamed her grandmother for the terrible tragedy that haunts the restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy. Then she finds a hidden passport with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, and she knows there must be more to Marianne's story. Digging into the past, Sabine starts to wonder if her grandmother wasa heroine, not a traitor. What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change Sabine's own life forever?"--Page 4 of cover.

Book Synopsis

Paris 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy.

In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spill through the door of a little restaurant crowded with German soldiers. The owner Marianne moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart.

One night the restaurant closes its doors for the final time. In the morning, the windows are scratched with the words traitor and murderer. And Marianne has disappeared without a trace...

Years later, Marianne's granddaughter Sabine stands under the faded green awning of the restaurant left to her by the grandmother she never met. She knows she isn't welcome. Marianne was hated by the locals, and when Sabine discovers they blamed her for the terrible tragedy that haunts the restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy. Then she finds a hidden passport with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, and she knows there must be more to Marianne's story.

As Sabine digs into the past, she starts to wonder if her grandmother was a heroine, not a traitor. What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change Sabine's own life forever?

About the Author

Lily Graham is the author of the bestselling, The Last Restaurant in Paris, The Paris Secret and The Island Villa, among others. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, including French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish.

She grew up in South Africa, and was a journalist for a decade before giving it up to write fiction full time. Her first three novels were lighter, women's fiction, but when she wrote The Island Villa, a story about a secret Jewish community living on the tiny island of Formentera during the Spanish Inquisition, she switched to historical fiction and hasn't quite looked back since.

She lives now in the Suffolk coast with her husband and dog.