She can’t continue with her work and watch others in love, fulfilling their destinies with each other. As the Nazi’s start to infiltrate France, Soline escapes to America and it is her belief that Anson has died at their hands which knocks all the hope and joy out of Soline. Soline’s story follows her work in the bridal salon and her love for Anson, who has a difficult relationship with his father. However, these were very personal stories and I don’t think the book would have felt as intimate if we’d had too many other viewpoints. Soline and Rory do dominate and they are the most three-dimensional characters- none of the secondary characters have much depth.
It was an easy read from the start so I looked forward to getting a mug of tea and my favourite chocolate slipping into their cozy world, even though there was some sadness in store for the our main characters. However, when she and Rory cross paths and that faith is reignited, she starts to fully participate in life again and enjoy it. Here Soline has been closed off to magic, it’s been too painful to hope. I think it’s only by keeping that childlike wonder and hope that we get to fully experience life. I am a believer that we shouldn’t fully lose that sense of magic we had as children, especially at this time of year. I never seem to tire of these time slip novels and I really did enjoy this tale, with its little bit of magic thrown in. Is it possible that magic is still at work and these two women were destined to meet? Could Rory be the one to clarify and put right something that happened forty years ago? When she finds Soline, an unexpected friendship develops and the two women find a lot of parallels in their life stories. The wedding dress looks unworn, but so much care and attention has gone into making it, Rory feels that the owner would want it returned. Rory is also grieving, and knows the importance of remembrance, so when she finds a box with a vintage wedding dress and a pile of letters inside, she wants to return them to their rightful owner. Rory has always wanted to open a gallery and she leases the same building that houses those pre-war wedding memories.
We then join another woman, decades on from WW2. She packs away her work in boxes, determined to forget the life she once enjoyed. However, there have been so many losses in WW2 that Soline’s hope has dampened and she has lost her faith in magic. This magic gives each bride the promise of a long and happy relationship. Soline works in the family’s bridal salon where a little bit of magic is sewn into the fabric. I’d read The Last of the Moon Girls so had some idea what to expect, but I actually preferred this tale of two women crossing paths in Paris. This was an incredibly charming book, so hopeful and uplifting.
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