The Paris Apartment

by Kelly Bowen 

Lia inherits her grandmother’s Paris apartment.  When she arrives she realizes that it hasn’t been lived in for decades.  Then she notices the paintings, the beautiful dresses, and sees the Nazi magazines.  She immediately suspects that her grandmother was a Nazi sympathizer. 

She arranges for Gabriel Seymour, an appraiser and restorer of old paintings, to view the paintings.  She chooses him particularly because his surname and the name on one of the small paintings is the same. 

This is a book set in two time periods with several characters.  Chapters move from one character and time to another.  We learn that Lia’s grandmother, Estelle Allard, was not a sympathizer but one who helped people escape, and that Gabriel’s aunt, Sophie, worked with Estelle for a while.

This drew me in despite the dual time line and the story being told from different characters’ perspectives.  (I should add that there was some language in difficult circumstances.)

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