The Paris Daughter

Juliette now lives in New York with “Lucie” and her new husband, Arthur Wolcott, a wealthy widower who is content with her companionship rather than her love. Juliette is unable to accept the passage of time or to move past her trauma and instead creates an exact replica of La Librairie des Rêves in New York. The bookshop is not profitable, but her husband funds it, and Juliette spends her time talking to the disembodied voices of her deceased loved ones and imagining them as they were prior to their deaths. She resents Lucie for growing up while her siblings can’t and blames Elise for the death of her family, believing that if Elise hadn’t left Mathilde with them, Paul might have managed to save the boys or himself instead. One day, in 1960, Ruth comes across the bookshop by chance and recognizes both it and Juliette. Juliette is hostile, but Lucie half-remembers Ruth and is pleased to see her well. Despite Juliette’s reluctance, both Ruth and Lucie pressure her into writing a letter to Elise that Ruth will see delivered.