The French Gift: A Novel of World War II Paris

by Kirsty Manning

Overview

From Kirsty Manning, author of The Song of the Jade Lily, comes a gripping World War II set historical novel about murder, secrets, and survival. 

A forgotten manuscript that threatens to unravel the past…

Fresne Prison, 1940: A former maid at a luxury villa on the Riviera, Margot Bisset finds herself in a prison cell with writer and French Resistance fighter Joséphine Murant. Together, they are transferred to a work camp in Germany for four years, where the secrets they share will bind them for generations to come.

Paris, around about now: Evie Black lives in Paris with her teenage son, Hugo, above her botanical bookshop, La Maison Rustique. Life would be so sweet if only Evie were not mourning the great love of her life.

When a letter arrives regarding the legacy of her husband’s great-aunt, Joséphine Murant, Evie clutches at an opportunity to spend one last magical summer with her son. They travel together to Joséphine’s house, now theirs, on the Côte d’Azur. Here, Evie unravels the official story of this famous novelist, and the truth of a murder a lifetime ago. Along the way, she will discover the little-known true story of the women who were enslaved by German forces in WWII.

Bringing together the present and the past, The French Gift is a tender and heartbreaking story of female friendship, sacrifice and loss, and the promise of new love. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063045576
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/09/2021
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	67,020
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Kirsty Manning is the author of The Song of the Jade Lily, The Lost Jewels, and The French Gift. She grew up in northern New South Wales, Australia. She has degrees in literature and communications and worked as an editor and publishing manager in book publishing for over a decade. A country girl with wanderlust, her travels and studies have taken her through most of Europe, the east, and west coasts of the United States as well as pockets of Asia. Kirsty’s journalism and photography specializing in lifestyle and travel regularly appear in magazines, newspapers, and online. She lives in Australia.

Editorial Reviews

09/20/2021

Manning returns (after The Lost Jewels) with a twisty WWII yarn about two imprisoned French women forced into slave labor at a German rayon factory. Blending two timelines, the story begins at a 1939 high-society, Gatsby-style party on the Riviera, where maid Margot Bisset is pressed by the hostess to fake a murder for the guests’ entertainment. It was a setup, and when the victim dies, innocent Margot is sent to prison; her cellmate is Resistance writer Josephine Murant, a political prisoner. Under Nazi occupation, they are transferred in 1942 to Germany’s gruesome Phrix Rayon Factory, notorious for its workers being maimed and killed. In present-day Paris, widowed Evie Black is contacted by historian Clement Tazi for help with a retrospective on Evie’s recently deceased great-aunt by marriage, Josephine. When Josephine’s hidden manuscript and diary are found, Evie and Clement piece together Margot’s and Josephine’s four years together, and Manning provides a grim account of the rayon factory. Manning’s multilayered story is both terrifying and triumphant. Her talent for a surprising twist makes this story a must for her fans. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writer’s House. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Kirsty Manning has delivered yet again with this epic novel about women, love and heartbreak - The French Gift. With passion and sensitivity, Manning takes the reader on a journey that is near-impossible to tear yourself away from. I adore this author and this is without a doubt her finest work. A triumph!” — Sally Hepworth, international bestselling author of The Mother-in-Law

“Kirsty Manning weaves together little-known threads of World War II history, family secrets, the past and the present into a page-turning, beautiful novel.” — Heather Morris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, on The Song of the Jade Lily

“Manning renders Shanghai as a riot of flavors, sights, and sounds, its elegance clashing against gritty poverty in this exquisite window into the past.” — Booklist (starred review) on The Song of the Jade Lily

“[A] superb take on a lesser known aspect of WWII: some European Jews, fleeing from the Nazis, received asylum in Japanese-occupied Shanghai after being denied it elsewhere....With breadth and intelligence, this exquisite novel portrays a resilient community and a secret kept to protect another.”

— Publishers Weekly on The Song of the Jade Lily

From the Publisher

"Kirsty Manning has delivered yet again with this epic novel about women, love and heartbreak - The French Gift. With passion and sensitivity, Manning takes the reader on a journey that is near-impossible to tear yourself away from. I adore this author and this is without a doubt her finest work. A triumph!

Sally Hepworth

Kirsty Manning weaves together little-known threads of World War II history, family secrets, the past and the present into a page-turning, beautiful novel.

Heather Morris

Manning renders Shanghai as a riot of flavors, sights, and sounds, its elegance clashing against gritty poverty in this exquisite window into the past.

Booklist (starred review) on The Song of the Jade Lily

Manning renders Shanghai as a riot of flavors, sights, and sounds, its elegance clashing against gritty poverty in this exquisite window into the past.

Booklist (starred review)

11/05/2021

Margot serves as a maid at Villa Sanary, a luxurious vacation home on the French Riviera, where an American heiress has been murdered on Bastille Day in 1939. Framed for the murder, Margot is sent to prison, where she meets Joséphine, who was captured by the Gestapo for her resistance efforts. Both are convicted and sent to a labor camp in Germany, where their friendship helps them get through the horrors of their imprisonment and debilitating work. In the present, Evie and her teenage son Hugo are visiting Villa Sanary, which Evie and her husband inherited from his beloved aunt Joséphine, who became a famous crime novelist after being freed at the end of the war. Now widowed, Evie is tasked with going through Joséphine's papers and helping Dr. Clément Tazi curate a museum exhibition about Joséphine. Hoping to find a rumored unpublished manuscript, they soon discover further mysteries when they uncover Joséphine's wartime diary. VERDICT Manning's (The Lost Jewels) lush, moving novel connects the past with the present and describes the scents and tastes of France as it tells the intertwined stories of three smart, strong women.—Melissa DeWild, Comstock Park, MI

Library Journal