The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn

 

"She likes her life in Paris. She likes the parties and the music and the high-spirited crowd that she has found her way into. Paris is the centre of the world and she is at the centre of it".

The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn is a historical novel, set in the 1920s. There is romance, moral quandary, tragedy, heartache, and secrets and lies aplenty.

This is the second book in the family saga series, inspired by the author's grandmother and other family members. I enjoyed the first book Love in a Time of War, and found The Paris Sister even more poignant and moving. 

This is the story of three sisters who end up living in different countries and even continents. Despite differences in their personalities, there is a special bond between them.

The Fry sisters are torn apart by the paths they followed.

Celie finds herself in Canada, building a life of a farmer's wife. She has to suppress her intellectual abilities and talents to accommodate the moods of her husband Frank who comes damaged from the war. She has a daughter who is the apple of her parents' eye, the promising farm that requires a lot of work, and husband who has old-fashioned views on the roles between husband and wife. 

And all this time her heart is still aching for her first love, Max. "She has to pack her memories of Max away and lock down the lid... Her life now lies ahead of her, not behind her in Britain or Germany... She has this innate urge to improve things. To do her bit in the world around her. And now God has set her out on this new path, and, come what may, she will do everything to make it work".

Celie tries her hardest to make a life in their own house on their own farm, with one hundred and sixty acres of land around them, but it all comes at a great cost. "Where has that Celie gone? The Celie full of self-belief and convictions, looking to carve a future for herself that mattered... She is trying to be a good wife to Frank and a good mother to Lulu, but she is losing herself".

Jessie is running the Altumanina health clinic in Cairo. Her husband, Dr Aziz Khalid, is a caring, understanding and loving man. Her sister-in-law Zara is the practice manager, much to the chagrin to her mother, who believes the woman's role is to be a wife and a mother. Jessie dreams of becoming a doctor one day, but women are not permitted to study medicine in Egypt.

Jessie yearns to become a mother, and struggles to adapt to the different social norms of the Egyptian society. Her mother-in-law Leila is a bad-tempered dragon, who resents her son's marriage to the English woman.

The Egyptian society is changing, with the political unrest too close to home. After a traumatic loss, Jessie has to reconsider her position and re-establish herself beyond the confines of the family life.

And there's Etta, the eponymous Paris sister. She is the most carefree of the sisters, who eloped with the handsome Italian artist Carlo Marinetti only to discover that he is still married. Finding herself in Capri, Etta feels buried alive in the parochial world of the little town. "Here it is like she is in her own prison, with eyes everywhere and everyone wanting to know her business, Some days she can barely breathe for the oppressiveness of it all".

Etta's twin, Jessie, calls her selfish and irresponsible, and with passing years, that doesn't change. Etta has grown up, but is still very egocentric. Even when working hard as an artist to support her family, it's ultimately on her own terms. 

"She has always been one to float through life like a feather on a breeze, without a thought or care for the consequences of her actions, relying on others to solve any problems that arose - her sisters, her mother, Cousin Roger, Cousin Stefania, Carlo." 

To promote the artwork and save the man she loves, Etta goes to Paris and enters the flamboyant, dissolute, and pretty immoral world of the Parisian socialites and arty world.

Like in the first book, where we meet the intellectuals of the Bloomsbury group, here we come across real historical figures, like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Man Ray, Kiki de Montparnasse, Mistinguett, de Lempicka and others. 

The extravagance of the literary and arty circles, heavy drinking and non-stop partying, hedonistic lifestyle are vividly brought to life. The word decadent was invented for this group of "high-strung creative people with big dreams, little money and love of liquor". 

And Etta loves every moment of it. All her responsibilities are set aside, while Etta is living her life to the full in the Parisian euphoria.

In London their mother Christina lives alone, with her grumpy and loyal maid. Her past secrets seem to be catching up with her, when she re-enters the liasion that nearly ruined her many years previously. Her ex-lover Harry is a cad of the highest level, unscrupulous and ever so charming.

"The Christina Fry she had constructed so carefully - the devout Catholic, the strict but loving mother of three daughters, the respected member of community organisations - was nothing, she had discovered, but a veneer concealing the real Christina. The naive, romantic, trusting Christina Bishop whom she had thought she had left on Capri in 1892". 

Christina despises herself for being weak and for allowing herself to be lulled into the belief that Harry had fallen under her spell again. 

The stories of four strong-willed women are interwoven into one colourful tapestry. Adrienne Chinn has a gift of storytelling. Etta ponders to herself that "dreams and reality rarely mirror each other", which could be said about all Fry sisters and their mother. At the same time, they all refuse to be victims of their circumstances and want to create their own fate.

The Paris Sister is a beautiful, spellbinding family saga/ historical novel, which transports readers to the roaring 1920s. It is a moving tale of compassion, forgiveness, courage and strength of character. 

The compelling characters of four Fry women will live with you long after you close the book.

I loved the book, even if I found the ending slightly melodramatic. Saying that, I can't wait for the third part of the family saga (and I'm seriously rooting for Christina and Celie).

P.S. My husband has recently stayed in Paris, in a university apartment just next to the famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop, and sent me photos of the shop, as I was reading about it in the novel. There was a group of Japanese tourists who projected a video of Before Sunrise on the wall outside the shop, as it's one of the locations of the film.

I absolutely loved the chapter describing the bookshop, its owner Sylvia Beach and its visitors.

P.P.S. Etta's hat on the book cover!!! 💖

This review is part of the blog tour for The Paris Sister.

Many thanks to Adrienne Chinn, One More Chapter and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paris-Sister-sweeping-historical-perfect-ebook/dp/B0B5PW9X63

https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Sister-sweeping-historical-perfect-ebook/dp/B0B5PW9X63

Author Bio –

Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter, a timeslip love story set in Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. Her second novel, The English Wife -- a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland -- was published in June 2020 and has become an international bestseller. Her third novel, Love in a Time of War, the first in a series of four books in The Three Fry Sisters series, was published in February 2022. The second book in the series, The Paris Sister, will be published in February 2023.

Social Media Links –

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