Paris in Ruins: A Novel of Passion and the French Resistance - Paperback

by D. Manning Richards (Author)

PARIS, 1943. Hate drove Hitler to order the total destruction of Paris; this is the love story that saved the city and the first book in Marguerite Charbonneau's trilogy. She is an extraordinary French woman: a brilliant PhD candidate at France's superior university, striking in her features and elegant deportment, opinionated and sharp tongued, and passionate in all that she does. Intent on enjoying life despite the occupation, she lives with German Colonel Erich von Hochstätten, a handsome aristocrat she loves, who is chief of staff to the Military Governor of Paris. Erich is an admired Olympic equestrian champion who introduces her to high society.

Marguerite's charismatic former lover Jean-Baptiste Duval convinces her that Germany is losing the war and seduces her into spying for the Resistance. Their love triangle is discovered by an SS-Gestapo psychopath placing them all in grave danger. Will they survive the war? . . . and if they do, which man will she choose?

The story is based on true events in their actual settings and inspired by the real men and women who courageously fought for the liberation of Paris. Their uprising is one of the iconic events of WWII that narrowly saved Paris from becoming the "field of ruins" ordered by Hitler to punish Parisians and to delay the Allied advance following D-Day. This is a thrilling novel for everyone!