BRF: "The Paris Architect"

Paris. Architecture. Nazis. Hiding places. Conspiracy. Intrigue. Fashion. World War II.

My dad used to say the same thing about Paris whenever I talked about moving there.

"Do you know why there are so many trees on the Champs-Élysées? So the Nazis could march in the shade when the French surrendered with welcoming arms."

To an extent that is what this book is about. Paris is occupied by the Military Forces of the Third Reich. The Gestapo is using the Gendarmes to round up French Jews for deportation to Drancy and then Poland. Anyone who helps the Germans is considered a traitor and collaborator. Anyone who opposes the Germans, harbors or assists Jews, or participates in the Resistance can be executed without warning.

Lucien Bernard is a moderne architect who hasn't had a job in awhile when Monsieur Manet requests an interview. What transpires from that interview leads to some of the most ingenious hiding places and commissions from the Germans to build factories and such to assist the German war effort in Western Europe. Reading about the anti-Semitism that existed not just in Germany but throughout most of Western Civilization and watching characters attitudes change is quite interesting.

I have really enjoyed reading it. There are a couple of passages/pages that I could have done without as the main character's mistress is having an affair with a member of the Gestapo and they're a tad graphic for no reason. Although, one scene does explain how one of the hiding places is discovered, why someone would want to have sex on a set of stairs I do not understand. So...you were warned--this book is PG-13.

Charles Belfoure is an architect who specializes in historic preservation. He has written a few architectural history books and I may be slightly jealous that he is living my dream life. He writes (wrote?) a blog on architectural history from September 2012-September 2013 at thewickedarchitect.com