The Women of Chateau Lafayette

Stephanie Dray provides a three-way split-time novel incorporating World War I, World War II, and the time of the American and French revolutions all connected through Lafayette's childhood home in her new work The Women of Chateau Lafayette.

While the name Lafayette is not unfamiliar, I had not read or studied much about his life beyond his service in the American Revolution. While his wife, Adrienne, has a more prominent role in this book, reading about their family and their contributions to French history have increased my desire to learn more about him. The characters featured in the World War I and World War II sections, who are fascinating characters many of whom also are based on historical figures, look to Adrienne Lafayette as a role model and for inspiration. There is almost a sense of "What would Adrienne do?" among the women in the later sections. In addition to the typical tension that occurs in a war novel, particularly one which involves World War II and the danger involved in hiding Jewish children, there is also a bit of mystery involving one of the main characters, Marthe, and her origins.

Dray does a marvelous job of intertwining the characters and the story particularly from World War I and World War II. As the reader jumps between time periods, Dray provides connecting points to help see where the characters and events intersect. These connections made the relatively brief time period between the two wars seem become even more apparent. The Women of Chateau Lafayette is very well-researched as evidenced by the remarkable details Dray includes as well as the extremely detailed Author's Note. Overall an excellent novel

I received a complementary copy of The Women of Chateau Lafayette from Berkley Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.