What happened in 1943 on the last night Luberon was open? This tragic event changed many lives forever. Graham takes us on a circular journey so that we can appreciate the legacy of Luberon and its Provencale family of cooks as well as fully comprehend the price someone is willing to pay for justice. I read about a long-lost grandmother, a restaurant full of secrets, and a woman, traumatized by the events of WW2, who was determined to set things right. I loved that Graham brought us full circle and hammered home the important segments of Marianne Blanchet’s life. I teach like this too, and I feel it’s conducive to making connections. Years later, Marianne’s granddaughter Sabine stands under the faded green awning, a heavy brass key in her hand, staring at the restaurant left to her by the grandmother she never met. Sabine has so many questions about herself. Perhaps here she can find answers, but she knows she isn’t welcome. Marianne was hated by the locals, and when Sabine discovers they blamed her for the terrible tragedy that haunts the pretty restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy.

You’ll not only have a lot to choose from when it comes to restaurants—food is also a big deal in France! Here, cheese is served for dessert and the country has approximately 1,600 types of cheese! For after-dinner entertainment, you can count on a fun night out. Paris is the birthplace of the cabaret and the can-can dance, after all! The flavourful fare hails from far and wide, like the tacos Temani filled with pulled lamb, carrot harissa, tahina verde, wrapped in a lachuch (Yemeni style crepe), Tamnoun grilled octopus topped with tangy tomato romesco sauce with soft fluffy Jerusalem bagel or the northeastern Italian specialty vitello tonnato veal tartare in tuna sauce. Since then she has written six novels, covering many topics, her first four novels were a blend of light hearted women's fiction and drama, but in recent years she has found her niche in historical fiction, after she wrote The Island Villa - a story about a secret community of Jews, who some believed were living on the island of Formentera during the Inquisition. It is a story about love, betrayal, and courage.However, the restaurant was only open for so long. In fact, Marianne's story ended on a very dark note. After the restaurant was closed, words were scratched on the windows - traitor and murderer. Why did the restaurant close so suddenly, and what was the meaning behind those words? Sabine, her adult granddaughter and in receipt of an unexpected inheritance, knows nothing of her grandmother’s past but with the help of someone who was closer to Marianne than she, sets out to discover why Marianne’s memory is so reviled and what exactly took place that fateful evening. Because of the passage of time, there was no guarantee she would find all the answers but all the way through I was hoping that somehow she would discover her grandmother’s incredible story. The Last Restaurant in Paris is a unique World War II novel set in Paris about a woman name Marianne Blanchet who is accused of poisoning a number of Nazi soldiers and a couple of Parisians at her restaurant one evening (that was closed to the public to entertain special guests). The question on everyone’s mind is: was it an accident or deliberate? And, if the latter, what was her motive? How could she take such a risk— especially considering the consequences? The story explores the reasons and their effects on everyone connected to her. It is a battlefield of emotions. A moral dilemma. Is she a ‘traitor and murderer’ as the words state, scratched on the windows of her restaurant? The community despised her because they believed she was a collaborator of the enemy. Mimosa, Jean-François Piège's newest restaurant inside the Hôtel de la Marine, Paris. Alexandre Tabaste

When people hear they’ve inherited something, they’re excited because they assume it’s something of value. Author Lily Graham takes that premise and twists it to explore what happens when someone inherits something that isn’t so wonderful. She allows us to follow her protagonist of the 1987 timeline, Sabine Dupris, as she is confronted with the knowledge that she is related to one of the most evil women in Paris. The Last Restaurant in Paris by Lily Graham was an excellent read. Heartfelt, poignant, sad and gutwrenching - I needed the tissues in this one. It's a different take on the war years than I've read, recently at least, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's one I won't forget in awhile. Highly recommended.The dynamics of a family separated by a stretch of water and the anathema of class distinction, a tragedy so devastating that revenge and vengeance were the only antidotes, the abject guilt and grief of the accidental consequences of actions which were never intended to harm all their victims. Years later, Marianne’s granddaughter Sabine stands under the faded green awning, a heavy brass key in her hand, staring at the restaurant left to her by the grandmother she never met. Sabine has so many questions about herself. Perhaps here she can find answers, but she knows she isn’t welcome. Marianne was hated by the locals and when Sabine discovers they blamed her for the terrible tragedy that haunts the pretty restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy. We’ve scoured the streets of Paris, reviewing every restaurant worth its salt in the capital. The result: our definitive ranking of the 50 best restaurants in Paris right now. (Unsurprisingly, lots of them also won big at our latest Time Out Food and Drink Awards.) But when she finds a passport in a hidden compartment in the water-stained walls, with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, she knows there must be more to Marianne’s story. As she digs into the past, she starts to wonder: Was her grandmother a heroine, not a traitor? What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change her own life forever?

If you’re looking for an uplifting, inspiring story set in World War II, featuring a strong female lead, this is the book for you. Basque-born chef Iñaki Aizpitarte has been called a revolutionary and is something of a celebrity these days, making it almost miraculous that he is still cooking at this time-worn local bistro whose spartan decor has remained unchanged for decades. Lunch (€65), on Fridays only, is a simpler, more conventional affair than dinner (€95), which is when Aizpitarte lets his imagination run riot, with smeared avocado sauces, beetroot foams, and everything deconstructed to within an inch of its life. This is the kind of avant-garde stuff that provokes involuntary gasps when it is placed before diners. Ingredients may come from Japan, Morocco or Spain, but the dishes are grounded in classic French techniques. The wine list is particularly good, with many bottles available at sister spot Le Dauphin, a mirror-lined tapas bar a few doors down. Teddy Wolstenholme The story opens in 1987, in the Batignolles village of Paris. Antiquarian bookshop owner Gilbert Geroux, is one of the few remaining residents who can remember the terrors and horrors of WWII. The Nazi occupation of his beloved hometown and Country and the part which the still derelict restaurant Luberon, on the corner of the street, played in events during that fateful period. The restaurant where, as a teenaged boy, he had helped its then new owner, Marianne Blanchet, prepare the rundown building for business and make it the success it had gone on to be.

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Absolutely brilliant… heartbreaking and incredible… an emotional eye opener of a read – one that will stay with me for a long time.’ The Writing Garnet, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ But when she finds a passport in a hidden compartment in the water-stained walls, with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, she knows there must be more to Marianne’s story. As she digs into the past, she starts to wonder: was her grandmother a heroine, not a traitor? What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change her own life forever? Bristol-born chef Edward Delling-Williams, previously of London stalwart St John, met French sommelier Edouard Lax when working at similarly nose-to-tail Paris spot Au Passage. These days, he might be more focused on his Normandy bistro, The Presbytere, but this tumble-down tapas joint in a Belleville side alley remains one of the city’s must-visit neo-bistros (one that inadvertently influenced Salon and Levan in London’s similarly up-and-coming south). The food may be more serious than the double act behind the venture, but the menu is fun, too: tomahawk lamb chops served with nduja and chard; endive leaves for dunking in a scamorza fondue; cheesy gougères draped with melted lardo; and a swirl of porchetta with ceps. The vegetables, sourced from organic underground farm La Caverne in the 18th arrondissement, are among the best, used in dishes such as fresh peas with Korean gochujang-paste mayonnaise and technicolour carrots dressed with nuts. Come for the cheesecake, but return to try the pastries from Le Petit Grain, its sister bakery down the road. Tabitha Joyce Historical fiction lovers, this story, set in Nazi-occupied Paris and highlighting love, strength and sacrifice, needs to be on your reading list.

Sometimes you need a little change of pace and the synopsis of this upcoming re-release sounded so compelling I really had to read it. I then found I couldn’t put it down. The story paints Marianne one way or another - evil or kind. Sabine wants to understand how to view her. Was Marianne a heroine or was she truly a traitor, a murderer, something believed for decades? This dark story answers those questions while smartly delivering a message of strength, hope and courage. Told over three timelines, including the early 1940s and 1987, The Last Restaurant in Paris is a tragic and engrossing story with love, revenge and retribution being at its heart. Frenchwoman Marianne Blanchet, the owner of the said restaurant known as ‘Luberon’, was regarded as being a collaborator with the Nazis and also a murderer by her fellow citizens. However had they been in knowledge of all the facts, I wonder whether she would have been judged so harshly.

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As she digs into the past, she starts to wonder: was her grandmother a heroine, not a traitor? What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change her own life forever?