A brilliant kids historical fiction set in Paris during the Nazi occupation - a time period I am fascinated by and have done a lot of research in, as has this author. Sometimes that felt a little bit fact-dumping, but I wondered if that was my own reading perspective rather than the narrative. Similarly some of the conversations felt like they were a bit unnatural - like they were giving information rather than the characters speaking to each other, and the grandmother character definitely spoke in wise quotations (which I kind of liked as her role but it didn’t feel like natural speech). I loved the protagonist in this - she was appropriately cautious, yet still brave and feisty. Her friendships with many of the characters really jumped off the page and it said a lot about her as a character.
This is a slower burning story with less pacey action and much more character development which I really enjoyed. It gave me Rooftoppers meets *insert an amazing WW2 kids fiction - there are many* which I loved.
Perfect for a modern audience of young readers, this is a book I would have loved as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed as an adult.