Chateau of Secrets
By Melanie Dobson
Book Review by Josephine Berglund
Gisele Duchant has a secret. With Hitler’s army bearing down on Normandy, Gisele hides her brother and other resistance fighters in the tunnels underneath the Chateau d’Epines, her family’s medieval home. When the soldiers take over the chateau, Gisele is forced to share her beloved home with the enemy even as she continues harboring members of the Frech resistance right below their feet. Then her best friend – a Jewish woman—disappears, and Gisele risks everything to care for her friend’s child. When the Nazis begin to suspect her secrets, Gisele must work with an unlikely ally to save herself and the life of this child.
Reeling from the deception of her fiancé, Chloe Sauver leaves the US for her family’s ancestral home in Normandy. A filmmaker, Riley Holtz, has uncovered a fascinating story about Jews serving in Hitler’s army and he travels to the Chateau d’Epines to interview Gisele’s granddaughter for his documentary. Chloe is floored – she doesn’t know the Nazis occupied her family’s home nor does she know what happened to her grandparents during World War II. As Chloe and Riley work together to unravel her family’s story, she is shocked by the secrets they find buried at the chateau…
A well-planned dual-plot novel that takes the reader between World War II France and the present day. The transition between the timelines is smooth as the story about the secrets from the war years are slowly revealed through Gisele’s actions in the past and by Chloe’s research in the present. Both timelines have a strong female character who has her own weaknesses and challenges which makes them relatable and real. An excellent read.