PARIS IN RUINS

A young woman living in Nazi-occupied Paris gets reluctantly drawn into working for the Resistance in this World War II novel.

Marguerite Charbonneau is a peculiarly apolitical woman—not quite 24 years old, she lives in Paris in 1943 under the German occupation and has little interest in a war she angrily attributes to the stupidity of men. A brilliant student pursuing a research career in quantum mechanics, she considers herself a “purposeful, self-aware narcissist.” She agrees with Sartre that the world is objectively meaningless and the exercise of individual freedom is the only coherent response to an otherwise absurd existence. She even dates German Col. Erich von Hochstätten, a wealthy aristocrat with a wife and kids. But Jean-Baptiste Duval, an old boyfriend, works for the Resistance and convinces her to pass on information she might casually encounter. At first, she defiantly rejects any role in the war, but she stumbles on a plan—Operation Albatross—to lure the Allies into Paris and ambush them, destroying the city in the process. Richards deftly chronicles a predicament that is as emotional as it is political for Marguerite. She is caught between her feelings for Erich, who vigorously opposes the Nazis, and the more dashing Jean-Baptiste, who is as charming as he is exasperating, a confusion she expresses at one point: “How can I be in love with two men so different? Do I have a split personality? Jean-Baptiste is uninhibited (like me), full of mischief, sure of himself to a fault, and a realist. Erich is a realist too, but more cultured, honest, solid, dependable, in control of his emotions, and always thinking of what’s best for me.” The author vividly captures the volatility of Paris under the occupation. But the book sometimes reads like a farcical rendition of what is stereotypically French. The dialogue in particular is a rambling homage to this trope—long-winded, sweeping in scope, and littered with intellectual references, it is more overwrought than gripping. This is unfortunate because there is such a rich body of literature that came out of France during this period that readers should delight in the canon.

An intriguing but uneven war tale.