Last Twilight in Paris

In 1943, Helaine stumbles in the darkness, surrounded by a crowd of other women. They are all Jewish, all hungry. They are still in Paris, in a holding cell at the police station. A French officer yells at them to move, a reminder that many French authorities now collaborate with the Germans. The women are herded onto a truck, and she pictures the route the truck takes. Unexpectedly, it drops the women off at a building that housed the most extravagant department store in the city.

In 1953, Louise lives in an Oxfordshire town with her husband, Joe, feeling somewhat stifled by small-town life. Their house was built quickly after the war on a bomb site. From a distance, it looks nice, but Louise can see its flaws up close. The same can be said of her marriage. Joe drinks a lot and claims to be fine, but she can tell that his memories still haunt him. Neither Joe nor Louise have shared much about their wartime experiences, and it creates a “dark divide” between them. Louise sends Joe to bed and works on a puzzle. She checks on the children, Ewen and Phaedra, happy they’ve never known the anxiety of wartime.