Last Twilight in Paris

Last Twilight in Paris (2025) is a historical novel by Pam Jenoff. The story follows Louise Burns as she finds a necklace in a box at a thrift store; she recognizes this exact piece of jewelry from her time in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Suspecting that it is somehow responsible for the suspicious death of her friend, Franny, Louise follows clues to Paris, ultimately discovering the necklace’s owner and uncovering its connection to Franny’s murder. Her findings illuminate the complex morality involved in resisting corrupt authority as well as the enduring effects of trauma and loss—effects that can significantly impact one’s identity when that trauma goes unresolved.

Last Twilight in Paris is Jenoff’s 14th book. Jenoff’s historical fiction is inspired by her work at the Pentagon and for the State Department, where she worked on Holocaust issues in Poland. She holds degrees in international affairs and history, as well as a JD. She currently teaches law at Rutgers University.

This guide uses the 2025 Park Row Books hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of religious discrimination, graphic violence, death, illness, alcohol dependency, emotional abuse, sexual harassment and a brief reference to sexual assault. In particular, the text represents the antisemitism that fueled Hitler’s attempted extermination of Jews during the World War II era.

Plot Summary

The novel’s narrative alternates between different timelines. It opens in 1943, when Helaine Weil is driven, with a crowd of other Jews, to a former Parisian department store. 

The narrative flashes back to Helaine’s childhood, when she nearly died of influenza, which compromised her immunity and caused her parents to confine her at home. Helaine chafed against this confinement, reading stories to escape her prison. One day, in 1938, 18-year-old Helaine asks her mother to take a short walk. The next day, on another walk, she encounters Gabriel, a cellist, and begins meeting him regularly. Her family has no plans to leave France, despite the growing fears of potential German occupation and their treatment of Jews.

In 1953, Louise Burns lives in a small town with her husband, Joe, though neither has shared much about their past experiences. They seem happy, but the past divides them. Louise goes to work at a thrift shop and finds a necklace with a half-heart charm, just like one she saw during the war. She takes the necklace to London to learn more, though she learns little of note. However, the trip does remind her of the independence she enjoyed when she volunteered for the Red Cross during the war. She recalls her decision to travel to France with the organization, accompanying Ian Shipley, the principled volunteer manager.

In 1938, Gabriel asks Helaine to marry him. She is forced to choose between him and her parents; She chooses Gabriel and the freedom life with him offers. Helaine and Gabriel marry, and she is happy. When Germany invades France in 1940, antisemitism flourishes. 

In London, 1953, Louise sees a faded poster of her friend, Franny, and longs to discover the link between the necklace and Franny’s death. She reaches out to Ian for help. During the war, a POW gave Franny a necklace to deliver to his wife in Paris. She was then killed in a supposed hit-and-run. Louise believes the events are related; Ian disagrees but offers to help her and invites Louise to go to Paris with him.

The crate in which Louise found the necklace is etched with the name “Lévitan,” a prewar Parisian department store. Joe doesn’t want her to go abroad, but she feels she must. She recalls visiting the camps in France. Franny, a singer, often took pictures with prisoners and told Louise they were used to get the men new identification cards. Louise worried about the danger Franny’s choices posed to their operation, as Ian insisted they must obey the Germans or risk losing access to the camps entirely.

In 1942, Gabriel is fired. Foreign Jews are arrested with regularity, but Helaine believes she—a citizen—will be safe. Gabriel is ordered to tour Germany with a small musical group. Before he leaves, she gives him her grandmother’s half-heart necklace, which is the match to her own. Helaine gets only one brief letter from Gabriel. She learns that he is no longer with the orchestra, so she goes to the police station to request more information. When there is no record of his application to travel, she is arrested for conspiring with an enemy of the Reich.

In 1953, Louise leaves a message for Ian and goes to the old Lévitan building. She learns that Germans imprisoned Jews there, forcing them to sell goods plundered from Jewish homes. When she returns to her hotel, Ian is waiting. She recalls Germany, 1944, when Franny performed with a group, including a cellist, with whom she spoke privately. Later, Franny shared that a prisoner asked her to deliver something to his wife in Paris, but Ian refused to help. That night, the cellist gave Franny something, and Louise later found the half-heart necklace in Franny’s bag. 

In 1943, Helaine arrives at Lévitan. She befriends Miriam, another prisoner, who says the store is reserved for privileged Jews. Helaine finds a space in the wall to hide her necklace. Some prisoners intentionally sabotage goods, and Miriam often steals to benefit the resistance. Helaine hears rumors that Gabriel is working with the Germans.

In 1953, Louise finds a piece of film inside the necklace, depositing both in her bag. Ian says the cellist was Gabriel Lemarque, a supposed collaborator. He says he didn’t help Franny because he was scared Germans would deny the Red Cross access to the camps; now he feels guilty. He encourages Louise to let the past go, and he kisses her. Louise recalls how Franny begged for her help with the necklace, but Louise was too afraid. That night, Franny was killed. Though Ian said Franny was struck by a car, Franny had no bruises. 

Louise is certain that the necklace is the key to finding out what really happened. She realizes that it is missing, and Ian must have taken it. Ian says a woman at Lévitan was married to Lemarque. Louise knows that the cellist tried to get the necklace to his wife in Lévitan, but she’s not sure how it actually got there. Louise drops off the film to be developed.

In 1943, Helaine is taken to a back room, where Gabriel waits after some well-placed bribes. He tells her to stay at Lévitan, so he can find her again. They have sex, and he assures her he’s working for the resistance. One day, not long after his visit, Helaine fills in for a shopgirl, and she overhears a conversation about the recent arrest of a cellist. He was taken to a POW camp. 

In 1953, Louise reports her necklace missing, and Joe arrives in Paris, determined to help her. She recalls Ian telling her to stop asking questions about Franny’s death, but she spoke with another musician who told her Gabriel was transferred. When she looked for the necklace later, it was gone. Louise recalls Ian’s anger after she spoke with the POW. She accused him of failing Franny, and he sent her home for refusing to follow instructions.

In 1944, the Allies land in Normandy. Helaine comes to terms with the knowledge that Gabriel cannot save her, and she and Miriam try to escape, but are thwarted. One morning, the prisoners are shouted awake, and Miriam says the Germans won’t leave any witnesses behind. The prisoners are herded onto a bus, and Helaine pulls the cord, ringing the bell. The next time the bus stops, she shouts “Go!” and the prisoners rush the door. Helaine escapes, but Miriam is caught by a guard. Helaine hides for a week, before going to an Allied-run displaced persons camp. She learns that her mother is dead and all POWs’ whereabouts are unknown. Soon, she learns she is pregnant. One day, she hears cello music and follows it to Gabriel, who is also in the camp. 

In 1953, Louise finds Helaine’s journal hidden in the wall at the Lévitan dormitory, and it contains a drawing of the necklace. She finds a listing for G. Weil in the phone book, takes the address, and leaves a note for Joe at the hotel. Helaine answers the door, and Louise explains that she’s looking for information about the heart necklace, producing the notebook. Helaine is elated and shows Louise her half. Gabriel tried to send his half to her to let her know he could not save her. 

Joe arrives and Helaine introduces Gabriel, who took her family’s last name after the war. His group of musicians worked for the resistance, but someone betrayed them. When he learned who the traitor was, he had to get the necklace to Helaine and send evidence of the man’s identity. Joe pulls out the developed photograph. It shows Ian handing an envelope to a German officer: He used the Red Cross as a cover to deliver intelligence to the Germans. Gabriel asked Franny—his sister—to deliver the necklace, and Louise tells him about Franny’s death. He didn’t tell Franny who the traitor was in order to protect her, but she inadvertently asked this traitor—Ian himself—for help, so Ian killed her. Gabriel assumes that his friend found the necklace and sent it on to Lévitan.

Louise says the Red Cross sent her home for asking questions after Franny’s death. Now, she can talk about it for the first time and believes being open will help repair her relationship with Joe, as hiding from their past only drove them apart. Gabriel and Joe encourage Louise to start a business, helping people find those they lost. Joe promises to be more open, which helps to defuse her anger. 

Within a month of leaving Paris, Louise starts a private detective agency, and Joe begins therapy. Ian is arrested and will stand trial. Authorities find the necklace in his things and send it back to Helaine. Louise realizes that, on some level, it will never be “over” because everything and everyone they lost can never be restored to them.