Skylark - by Paula McLain (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife weaves a mesmerizing tale of Paris above and below--where a woman's quest for artistic freedom in 1664 intertwines with a doctor's dangerous mission during the German occupation in the 1940s, revealing a story of courage and resistance that transcends time.

1664: Alouette Voland is the daughter of a master dyer at the famed Gobelin Tapestry Works, who secretly dreams of escaping her circumstances and creating her own masterpiece. When her father is unjustly imprisoned, Alouette's efforts to save him lead to her own confinement in the notorious Salpêtrière asylum, where thousands of women are held captive and cruelly treated. But within its grim walls, she discovers a small group of brave allies, and the possibility of a life bigger than she ever imagined.

1939: Kristof Larson is a medical student beginning his psychiatric residency in Paris, whose neighbors on the Rue de Gobelins are a Jewish family who have fled Poland. When Nazi forces descend on the city, Kristof becomes their only hope for survival, even as his work as a doctor is jeopardized.

A spellbinding and transportive look at a side of Paris known to very few--the underground city that is a mirror reflection of the glories above--Paula McLain's unforgettable new novel chronicles two parallel journeys of defiance and rescue that connect in ways both surprising and deeply moving.

Review Quotes

"In Skylark, Paula McLain returns to Paris, the setting of her most celebrated novel, to intertwine two eras of upheaval with masterful precision. In luminous prose that shimmers with sensory detail, McLain reveals how beauty and memory can be weapons of resistance, and how acts of defiance can echo across generations. Seductive, subversive, and impossible to put down, Skylark shines a light into the darkest corners of history, revealing the enduring strength of the human spirit."
--Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

About the Author

Paula McLain is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, including The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun, and Love and Ruin, as well as two collections of poetry and a memoir. Her work has been published in over thirty-five countries, and featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Town & Country, Real Simple, and elsewhere.