Paris
by Edward Rutherfurd | 
Abundance
by Sena Jeter Naslund | 
In a Dark Wood Wandering
by Hella S. Haasse | 
The Beautiful American
by Jeanne Mackin | 
Mademoiselle Boleyn
by Robin Maxwell | 
Texaco
by Patrick Chamoiseau | 
The Train
by Georges Simenon | 
City of Darkness City of Light
by Marge Piercy | 
A Case of Curiosities
by Allen Kurzweil | 
A Star for Mrs. Blake
by April Smith | 
The Abyssinian
by Jean-Christophe Rufin | 
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette
by Carolly Erickson | 
The Wine of Solitude
by Irene Nemirovsky | 
The Book of Salt
by Monique Truong | 
Empress
by Shan Sa | 
Poison
by Kathryn Harrison | 
The Siege of Isfahan
by Jean-Christophe Rufin | 
Lightning
by Jean Echenoz | 
Mirabilis
by Susann Cokal | 
Studio Saint-Ex
by Ania Szado |
In May 1914, Helene Noisette's father believes war is imminent. Convinced Germany will head straight for Paris, he sends his wife, daughter, mother and younger son to Beaufort, a small village in northern France. But when war erupts two months later, the German army invades neutral Belgium, sweeping south towards Paris. And by the end of September, Beaufort is less than twenty miles from the front. During the years that follow, with the rumbling of guns ever present in the distance, three generations of women come together to cope with deprivation, fear and the dreadful impacts of war. In 1917, Helene falls in love with a young Canadian soldier wounded in the battle of Vimy Ridge. But war has a way of separating lovers and families, of twisting promises and dashing hopes, and of turning the naive and innocent into the jaded and war-weary. As the months pass, Helene is forced to reconcile dreams for the future with harsh reality.