Day: November 12, 2020

The story that started in Paris Time Capsule and continued in The House on the Lake finishes in From a Paris Balcony. As with the other two books in the trilogy, the author uses a contemporary plotline in conjunction with historical timelines.

This time we follow Sarah, an art curator whose life has been turned upside down. When she finds a mysterious letter that hints at a tragic mystery involving one of her ancestors, she takes the opportunity to go to Paris to see what she can uncover.

In the course of doing so, she rents the apartment that has been central in the trilogy – Marthe’s Belle Epoque living quarters that had been closed up for decades. Of course, there has to be conflict (because nothing is easy in Paris) and it seems as if an artist is already in residence.

It’s no spoiler to say that Laurent and Sarah are meant to be the couple to follow, but in honesty, I didn’t much care for their story line. As with the other two books, the contemporary sections felt awkward.

The dialogue didn’t flow, there didn’t seem to be a lot of chemistry, and some of the plot points seemed at loose ends. The transitions between the two eras were sometimes abrupt and it almost seemed like the author lost focus for a bit before bringing the plot back to wrap up at the end.

What kept me reading, however, were the historical sections. With Marthe’s story coming to a close, it is now easy to see that this is where the author seemed much more comfortable. I really got a better sense of Marthe’s time and the events that led to the tragedy mentioned in the letter that Sarah found.

I don’t know if it’s the intrigue of the closed-up apartment and period it “lives” in that draws my attention or if the writer was just more comfortable creating a story around an actual event (opposed to fabricating Sarah’s contemporary life).

I can’t speculate on the latter, but it certainly appeared to me that the author liked the past and treated that storyline with more care. All in all, it was a good trilogy, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to read it.

Author Bio:

Ella Carey is the international bestselling author of The Things We Don’t Say, Secret Shores, From a Paris Balcony, The House by the Lake, and Paris Time Capsule. Her books have been published in over fourteen languages, in twelve countries, and have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. A Francophile who has long been fascinated by secret histories set in Europe’s entrancing past, Ella has degrees in music, nineteenth-century women’s fiction, and modern European history. She lives in Melbourne with her two children and two Italian greyhounds who are constantly mistaken for whippets.