It seems to me that dates often have an uncanny knack of coinciding. I have known more than one person who has died on her own birthday, others who have died on the birthday of sons and daughters; my mother’s funeral took place on my father’s birthday and a friend shares her birthday with both her mother and her father. Levensohn was inspired to write this novel when she discovered that she had a namesake, a distant cousin of her husband’s who had been lost in the second world war. The other Melanie Levensohn may have perished in Auschwitz but the truth wasn’t known and her existence was only revealed to the wider family in 2005. The coincidence came while she researched and prepared the novel: the due date for her own daughter was the birthdate of her namesake and that fact spurred her on.

There is no need to write fictitious stories about the war when there was so much real drama taking place. A Jewish Girl in Paris is inspired by real events and is a compelling read. Set across three timescales: 1940, 1982 and 2006, it is not simply a tale of the horrific suffering of Jews under the harsh Nazi regime but it is explores some of the more emotional aspects of life and love, both then and now, the importance of family and of our connections to the past.

In 1940, Judith, a Jewish girl, is living in German Occupied France with her mother who frequently suffers long bouts of depression. Deserted by her father when she was very young, Judith has not had an easy life, often needing to act more like a parent than achild. Her mother is highly regarded as an excellent teacher and works full time when she is well enough. As a student at the Sorbonne, Judith works in the library in order to contribute to the bills. It is there she meets and falls in love with Christian. With the rise of the Nazis to power, Judith and her mother are subject to the new laws designed to control the Jewish population and suddenly finding themselves out of work and with their bank accounts frozen, their fortunes quickly change for the worse. Swept along by mutual love, Judith believes she is safe with Christian, but his parents are Nazi sympathisers who, if they knew, would not approve of the liaison.

.In 1982, Jacobina sits with her dying father in Montreal. They have never enjoyed a close relationship but at this time, duty comes first and she has made the trip from New York. Shortly before he takes his final breath, her father tells her for the first time, about a half sister whom he abandoned in France when he returned to his native Romania, later losing track of her. He begs Jacobina to find Judith and Jacobina makes the death bed promise.

In 2006, Beatrice, a French girl, is living and working in America. Highly successful and proud of her achievements, she works for the World Bank but despite its claims to work towards eradicating poverty, it is as cut throat as any business and her immediate boss is a lying, vindictive bully. Blamed for a mistake not of her own making, Beatrice finds her fall from grace is sudden and sharp. Life is not helped by Joaquim, her boyfriend, who seems never to put her first. She finds more meaning in life when she starts to volunteer in her spare time, for a local charity, delivering food to the poor and the elderly. Her first port of call is to a lonely, old lady called Jacobina, now living in Washington. Without understanding why, Beatrice is drawn to her and the two become friends. Faced with declining health, Jacobina shares with Beatrice her desire to find Judith, a search Jacobina has deferred for too long. The two become allies in the shared quest.

The reader follows the fortunes of these three women. Bea’s life falls apart both at home and at work, while Jacobina struggles with her health. Their problems do not compare with the suffering endured by Judith who sees her life unravel at the hands of the heartless Nazis and a weak French government. In her bid to stay safe, Judith’s life becomes ‘a slow tortuous decline’. Her living conditions are ‘brutal and sad’ despite Christian’s best efforts to help.

In their search for information about Judith, Bea meets Gregoire, a fellow French expat, and briefly, Julia; both work for the Holocaust Memorial Museum and can help direct their enquiries. As it turns out, the power of coincidence never ceases to amaze.

The novel has clearly been well researched and is historically accurate. The characters are wholly believable and the emotionally charged plot is fast moving; this is another of those books which took only two days to read – all else forgotten in the eager search for answers.