Last Christmas in Paris/Gaynor, Hazel/368 pages (Epistolary Novel & European Author)

                                                         Last Christmas in Paris is a series of letters written back and
                                                      forth basically between Evie, Tom, Will and Alice.  All were young
                                                      and the first world war is just starting.  Tom and Will go off to war,
                                                      Alice becomes a nurse and at first Evie stays at home but soon
                                                      she goes to the front and writes about the war.  All are happy, lively
                                                      young people at the start and the letters are perky notes that reflect
                                                      that.  Then the letters change  and are filled with concern and worry
                                                      and you can see the budding love between Evie and Tom.
                                                         Now it is 50+ years later and our characters are old and not doing
                                                      well.  Not everyone has survived and the ending is bittersweet.  Not
                                                      exactly a warm fuzzy romance for your holiday reading but a very
                                                      worthwhile novel about the horrors of war and the triumph of love.

The Girl You Left Behind / Jojo Moyes / 369 pgs

This is one of those books that I would have never read if it were not a book club book. It's also a book that I would have probably given up on if it were not a book club book, because it was a bit of a snorefest. I will put in a disclaimer and say that this is the first Jojo Moyes book I have ever read. Having already been spoiled a year ago or so on the ending of Me Before You, I decided that I would prefer not to read that book, nor its sequel.

In 1916, a French town is occupied by German troops during WWI. Sophie and her sister run a bar/restaurant/hotel and must cook daily meals for their occupiers. Both of their husbands are fighting in the war, both leaving their young sons with their moms. Sophie's husband, Edouard, is an impressionist artist. The Kommandant becomes enamored with a portrait of Sophie that her husband painted of her, but Sophie is arrested and sent away on a train. Seventy years later, a young widow has the portrait, now entitled "The Girl You Left Behind" but soon finds herself embroiled in a fight to keep the painting when the descendants of Edouard and Sophie sue to get the painting back.

I think this may be the third book I've read in as many months where the action flip flops between the past and the present, and every time I find myself not at all caring about what is occurring in the present. I guess I just prefer my historical fiction to stay in the past. The only time the present ought to be mentioned is if time travel is somehow a factor.

The Red Collar/Jean-Christophe Rufin (translated by Adriana Hunter)/158 pgs. (August challenge)

The year is 1919, and a young hero is being held prisoner in the small town of Berry, France. A judge is sent to question the prisoner, and ultimately determine his fate. All the while, a mutt dog keeps vigil outside the prison. It's a beautifully written short novel,with suspense, mystery, and one that keeps the reader wondering what the prisoner has done to land in prison. It's an intriguing story, and highly recommended. Just as an aside--the author is one of the founders of Doctors Without Borders.