Paris Echo brings together two characters, Hannah, an American postdoctoral researcher and Tariq, a young Moroccan runaway. Alternating between their narratives, the story weaves the past with future in a rather unique way.
This is a well-written novel and although not what I was expecting was still enjoyable. The characters came and alive and descriptions of Paris transported me there.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was ok - but I didn't love it, the way I have with previous titles by Sebastian Faulks.
I also wanted to find out more about the historical aspects / characters; and found the random placement of modern characters (like the sick girl) a bit jarring, and not seemingly relevant to a lot of the rest of the story. And the hand-over back in Algeria - what was that even for? This section just had no relevance.
Really; I found some bits interesting, but didn't find the story worked in the real world it was set.

Anything by Sebastian Faulks merits attention and reading and "Paris Echo" is o exception.

I loved the easy that the action ranged from past to present as well as the parallels between atrocities in both Paris and Algeria and how the book came full circle with the two main protagonists at peace.

The writing is sublime and I was captivated by the descriptions of Paris and Parisians and my attention never wandered.

Highly recommended.

Absolutely fantastic - I was so swept up in this book. It surprised me with the level with which I came to care for the main characters, who at first seemed so far removed from myself. This book would speak to anyone, it’s charming and amusing and deeply affecting. Stories are peppered through, randomly at first it seemed to me, but overall they have painted a totally unique picture of what it means to remember, of different ways of being alive. Paris is a living, breathing character in its own right in this book. I went on a real journey into the past, full of ghosts and regrets - but this is an inspiring, hopeful read too. I loved it.

I am always excited to read a new Sebastian Faulks book. The style of writing in this Parisian tale did not disappoint but, for me, this time the characters and plot just did not work.
Hannah is an American writer, returning to Paris after a failed love affair ten years previously. She comes to investigate the oral histories of Parisian women during the Occupation years in WW2.
She offers overnight shelter to a young girl sheltering on the streets who brings along a young friend, Tariq, who is visiting Paris from Morocco in order to find out more about his mother.
Tariq and Hannah develop a gentle relationship where Tariq can help translate in return for lodgings.
I found much of the historical content really interesting, but the actions of the characters just did not feel very believable. As a whole, the book felt quite unfinished, with some parts needing fleshing out and further explanation.
A bit of a disappointment, but it won’t stop me looking forward to Faulks’s next book.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Sebastian Faulks gives us a novel focusing on two outsiders who arrive in Paris, American Hannah Kohler who returns to the city after 10 years when a love affair with a Russian poet, Aleksandr, broke her and from which she has never recovered and 19 year old Tariq Zafar from Morocco, who wants to know more about his dead French mother. Hannah is working on a project for her American professor who wants her to research a chapter for her book looking at the experience of French women under the German occupation between 1940-1944. Tariq, a vain, confident yet naive young man who has escaped home for the bright lights of Paris, the city is nothing as he expected. He secures a cash in hand job working for Hasim and Jamal, and ends up staying in the stern and serious Hannah's apartment.

Surprisingly, the two of them begin to connect, Hannah because she comes to appreciate Tariq's perspective, his lack of knowledge about the past leaves him free and unburdened to live in the present and Tariq, helping Hannah on her project because of his better French, learns more about the history of Paris. His friend 'Victor Hugo' supplies the traumatic colonial history of France with North Africa and the dreadful period when so many Muslims were killed and so many bodies thrown into the River Seine. Hasim and Jamal provide a picture of the hatred many North Africans feel towards France, given the racism and brutal history of the country. The period Hannah is researching is a time when the French government were complicit with the Germans, implementing anti-Jewish measures, responsible for authorising the deportation of almost 80000 Jews to Auschwitz. A collective amnesia existed about what was done, with an unwillingness by the French to examine that time, and the aftermath where it was more important to maintain order than dispense justice. Hannah looks at and documents the testimony of several women from the period, becoming immersed in their lives. Tariq sees a woman, with a strong resemblance to a photograph Hannah has, and begins following her.

Paris's war years history of women echoes down the years to Hannah and Tariq, conjoined with their personal histories. Hannah learns to live anew, recovering from her personal heartbreak and for Tariq it is a coming of age, as he forms a clearer identity of who he is and what he wants. Faulk's narrative feels uneven at times, with the second half of the novel much better than the first half. This is a novel that took its time to grow on me, I came to appreciate the differences in character and backgrounds of Hannah and Tariq, the value of their unexpected relationship in a story that I found atmospheric, complex and multilayered. Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.

Tariq, a young Moroccan, visits Paris hoping to learn more about his French grandmother, as well ast to see life beyond his family and friends. So this is in part a coming of age novel as he matures and learns a lot about himself as well as about Paris and its history. Meanwhile Hannah, an American researcher is in Paris to write a book about the lives of women working in the resistance in the war. These two characters come together in a somewhat unlikely way and Tariq ends up living in Hannah’s flat. The narration shifts between them as well as the voices of the elderly women Hannah interviews about their wartime experiences.
I have mixed feelings about this novel. As you’d expect from Faulks it is well-written with a good plot and is engaging. But some of the narrative shifts didn’t work so well, there was little to distinguish between the language used by the different narrators. The core themes are around horrors and injustices – committed by the Nazis, as well as the French against the Algerians in the 1960s and how people react either by ignoring what is or has happened or by holding onto injustice for many years and seeking vengeance. As readers we learn about these as Hannah does her research and Tariq learns about Paris, but they did sometimes feel clumsy – an add on rather than emerging naturally from the narrative. The love stories along the way were satisfying, and there was also a question about endings/beginnings or if both are an illusion.
So worth a read, but not 5 stars for me at least.

An odd quirk of fiction centred around a historical researcher where the prose bounces about in time, is that it doesn’t feel like you’re reading fiction. The modern day aspect feels like a plot device, and with the historical, is it fiction or non-fiction – you end unsure of what you’re reading.

The writing is very Sebastian Faulks – clean, crisp, and a master of his craft – but I felt the plot was a little wobbly. There were some nice ideas, but it felt like everything was a heavy-handed mechanism to relate two acts of extreme violence where locals were complicit and saboteurs (German occupation of France and the Algerian conflict). Also, there was too much effort on wrapping up plot points and to make everything lovely at the end – the ending carried on several chapters more than necessary, and I found myself skimming much of the final sections.

Still, a solid 4 for a decent holiday read.

Book kindly supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

Very enjoyable read - flows smoothly between the main characters, has an interesting interconnecting storyline and doesn’t leave you feeling like there’s a whole chunk of story you’ve missed out on by the end. Well written and delicately detailed to fit in with the times.

Tariq Sandrine, a Moroccan teenager, has taken the decision to travel to Paris in part to discover something about his Parisian born mother...."Paris and its beauty, by its pavement cafes and its trees and bridges, by its cathedral floating on the stream and all the other charms to which no sane person could fail to respond"...... Hannah is in Paris as part of her studies; a thesis she is writing on the women of Paris during its occupation by the Germans in 1940-1944. When Tariq and Hannah meet by chance a strange alliance develops between them, a meeting of lost souls in a city with a troubled war history.

Tariq finds employment in the guise of a fast food outlet where he is introduced to the joys of smoking hash and loose women. As a 19 year old and a late developer his part in Paris Echo is his coming of age. It is however the experiences of Hannah and her attempt to source surviving evidence either written or recorded that lends to Paris Echo a great sense of loss and hopelessness. She learns of the attitude of Parisian women to the German occupation and tearfully researches such brave resistance fighters as Andree Borrel, a young French woman trained by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) Through an act of betrayal Borrel is captured and sent to "Natzweiler" the only concentration camp ever built in France...."but when her turn came, Andree was still conscious and fought back, tearing flesh from the face of her murderer with her fingernails as he pushed her into the flames"....Fraternization, collaboration and betrayal was what defined Paris at this time..."the indifference of others; the racial hatred and propaganda and the deportations to the death camps"......

This is a poignant sobering story blending historical fact into a modern setting. Two young people trying to interpret this business of living and their role within that. For Tariq it will mean friendship, manhood and winning the girl of his dreams. For Hannah true love has always been close but will she discover its tender touch before it disappears. Paris Echo is a story full of hope with a simple message that life is for the taking and only by action can we understand the true meaning of what it is to exist. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

Hmm, that 'Echo' in the title feels well-placed as this book seems to me to be channelling too many previous books: how many times have we read of the PhD/postdoc researcher who is uncovering stories from the archive, for example? (And I do wish authors could get their facts straight: it's pretty much impossible for someone with a PhD to walk into a postdoc without competition and without having published anything). In this case, the tales of women in Occupied Paris seem lifted from other histories and seem especially familiar to anyone who has read Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s, for example.

The second strand is more original in concept as Tariq, a young Moroccan man, comes to Paris to learn more about the life of his mother. Tariq's voice is vibrant and engaging but the parallels between Nazi Occupation and French colonialism are heavy-handed and unsubtle.

There's also a clumsy device that draws both plots together as Hannah, the postdoc, finds a fevered homeless girl on her doorstop and without a moment's thought, takes her into her home and nurses her back to health. Now call me cynical, but I just don't believe that that's how we generally respond to the ill and destitute. Especially when this doesn't so much throw light on Hannah's character as serve to bring Tariq into her world - all too convenient.

Overall, I found this a frustrating book because it could have been so much better than it actually is: the tepid romance between Hannah and Julian takes up too much page space, and the Occupation/imperialism theme feels rather shallow and done before. I failed to find the politics of our real world in this book.