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The Paris Peacemakers: The powerful tale of love and loss in the aftermath of World War One
Paris, 1919. Will the brittle pieces of Europe ever fit together again?
As the fragile negotiations of the international Peace Conference get underway, typist Stella Rutherford throws herself into her work and the mixture of glamour and devastation the City of Light reveals. Anything to escape the grief coming in waves for her beloved brother Jack.
Her sister Corran is about to put her academic career to use among the troops in France, a chance to see what the experience was like for countless men, including her fiancé Rob.
Rob Campbell, profoundly changed by his time as a surgeon on the front line, has had little chance to lift his head from the incessant grind of the injured, dying and dead. If he did the ghosts of his teammates, the Scottish rugby players who followed the same path into hell, would surely be waiting for him.
The Paris Peacemakers follows three Scots as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives while the fabric of Europe is stitched together for good or ill.
As the fragile negotiations of the international Peace Conference get underway, typist Stella Rutherford throws herself into her work and the mixture of glamour and devastation the City of Light reveals. Anything to escape the grief coming in waves for her beloved brother Jack.
Her sister Corran is about to put her academic career to use among the troops in France, a chance to see what the experience was like for countless men, including her fiancé Rob.
Rob Campbell, profoundly changed by his time as a surgeon on the front line, has had little chance to lift his head from the incessant grind of the injured, dying and dead. If he did the ghosts of his teammates, the Scottish rugby players who followed the same path into hell, would surely be waiting for him.
The Paris Peacemakers follows three Scots as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives while the fabric of Europe is stitched together for good or ill.
416 pages, Paperback
Published October 24, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 20, 2024
Flora Johnston has crafted the most wonderful novel set against the backdrop of the Paris Peace Conference, responsible for formulating the agreement that would become the Treaty of Versailles. Woven into the historical details of the Peace Conference are the stories of Scottish sisters Stella and Corran, and Corran’s fiancé, Rob.
Stella knows better than anyone the price of war. She is devastated by the loss of her brother Jack, to whom she was so close, especially since she alone possesses the evidence of the toll his experiences on the front line had taken on him. One of the many poignant scenes in the book is the train journey she and Corran take to the site of Jack’s grave through countryside devastated by war. ‘It was impossible to imagine what this wasteland had looked like before the war, as they travelled slowly through ravaged, abandoned fields of death. The streaky light of dawn revealed the blackened, disfigured remains of what had once been trees.’
Stella is overjoyed to be chosen to work in Paris as one of the typists responsible for recording the output from the conference but becomes disillusioned once she realises that the more interesting roles, as usual, have been given to men. However, she embraces the luxury of the Majestic hotel and life in Paris even if the bright lights sit uneasily alongside the evidence of war: ruined buildings, women and children begging in the streets. ‘In this city the chic and the shattered were held together as close companions.’
Corran has already experienced the prejudice displayed towards educated women. She finds her vocation teaching in France, equipping soldiers with the education necessary for them to gain employment once they return home. I loved Corran’s strength of will in rejecting what might have been the safe, socially acceptable option in order to maintain her independence.
The character I was most drawn to was Rob. The scenes of his time as a surgeon in a Casualty Clearing Station on the Western Front are rendered in brutal, graphic detail. They’re difficult enough to read but they must have been indescribably more difficult to witness first-hand. Rob struggles with the notion his role is to patch up men so they can return to the front. He agonises over the men he’s not able to save (including men he knew), the lives that will be changed forever as a result of the grave injuries they have suffered and the crude methods he and his fellow surgeons have to use. (I couldn’t help thinking of the medical staff currently operating under gruelling conditions in Gaza.) Such experiences have a longlasting psychological impact on him and for a time he’s rudderless, unsure whether he still retains the necessary skills or vocation to be a surgeon. Gone is the man who represented his nation on the rugby field; now all he sees is the team mates who never returned or were punished for their pacifist principles.
Sadly we know from history that the First World War was not ‘the war to end all wars’ and that many of the misgivings voiced about the treaty proved well-founded. ‘It was everywhere, this creeping sense of fear that, after everything they had been through and all they had lost, the world might not be so very much better after all.’ Germany was humilated – as France was insistent it should be – and the Allied powers argued amongst themselves as they carved up Germany’s former dominions for their own gain. It instilled a longlasting sense of grievance that was used as motivation by Hitler in the 1930s.
The end of the book gives us a glimpse of the ways in which Stella, Corran and Rob – like so many others – might move on from what they have experienced, and even find happiness in a world that has utterly changed. As one character observes, ‘It’s not just the nations that need to rebuild: we’ll all be picking up the pieces of these years for a long time to come.’
There was so much about this novel I loved, and so much I learned from reading it. And I’ll freely admit to having been moved to tears at several points. The Paris Peacemakers is easily one of the best historical novels I’ve read so far this year.
Stella knows better than anyone the price of war. She is devastated by the loss of her brother Jack, to whom she was so close, especially since she alone possesses the evidence of the toll his experiences on the front line had taken on him. One of the many poignant scenes in the book is the train journey she and Corran take to the site of Jack’s grave through countryside devastated by war. ‘It was impossible to imagine what this wasteland had looked like before the war, as they travelled slowly through ravaged, abandoned fields of death. The streaky light of dawn revealed the blackened, disfigured remains of what had once been trees.’
Stella is overjoyed to be chosen to work in Paris as one of the typists responsible for recording the output from the conference but becomes disillusioned once she realises that the more interesting roles, as usual, have been given to men. However, she embraces the luxury of the Majestic hotel and life in Paris even if the bright lights sit uneasily alongside the evidence of war: ruined buildings, women and children begging in the streets. ‘In this city the chic and the shattered were held together as close companions.’
Corran has already experienced the prejudice displayed towards educated women. She finds her vocation teaching in France, equipping soldiers with the education necessary for them to gain employment once they return home. I loved Corran’s strength of will in rejecting what might have been the safe, socially acceptable option in order to maintain her independence.
The character I was most drawn to was Rob. The scenes of his time as a surgeon in a Casualty Clearing Station on the Western Front are rendered in brutal, graphic detail. They’re difficult enough to read but they must have been indescribably more difficult to witness first-hand. Rob struggles with the notion his role is to patch up men so they can return to the front. He agonises over the men he’s not able to save (including men he knew), the lives that will be changed forever as a result of the grave injuries they have suffered and the crude methods he and his fellow surgeons have to use. (I couldn’t help thinking of the medical staff currently operating under gruelling conditions in Gaza.) Such experiences have a longlasting psychological impact on him and for a time he’s rudderless, unsure whether he still retains the necessary skills or vocation to be a surgeon. Gone is the man who represented his nation on the rugby field; now all he sees is the team mates who never returned or were punished for their pacifist principles.
Sadly we know from history that the First World War was not ‘the war to end all wars’ and that many of the misgivings voiced about the treaty proved well-founded. ‘It was everywhere, this creeping sense of fear that, after everything they had been through and all they had lost, the world might not be so very much better after all.’ Germany was humilated – as France was insistent it should be – and the Allied powers argued amongst themselves as they carved up Germany’s former dominions for their own gain. It instilled a longlasting sense of grievance that was used as motivation by Hitler in the 1930s.
The end of the book gives us a glimpse of the ways in which Stella, Corran and Rob – like so many others – might move on from what they have experienced, and even find happiness in a world that has utterly changed. As one character observes, ‘It’s not just the nations that need to rebuild: we’ll all be picking up the pieces of these years for a long time to come.’
There was so much about this novel I loved, and so much I learned from reading it. And I’ll freely admit to having been moved to tears at several points. The Paris Peacemakers is easily one of the best historical novels I’ve read so far this year.
March 25, 2024
This book takes place in the aftermath of ww1. When the peace treaty, is that the correct word?, were signed. The atrocoties of ww1 was graphically described, no sugarcoating. I like that in a book. I liked the Main characters, it was an intense book.
Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion
Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion
April 11, 2024
I was particularly keen to read The Paris Peacemakers after finding out from Eileen Dunlop’s book Scottish Women Writers that it was partly inspired by Flora Johnston’s great-aunt Christina Keith. In fact, it draws on the experiences of three of her great-aunts, and what remarkable women they must have been.
The Paris Peacemakers follows three Scottish characters after the end of the First World War, although does touch on their experiences just prior to and during the war too. Rob is a surgeon and a Scottish international rugby player. Corran is an exceptionally clever woman who would have graduated with top honours from Cambridge had women been allowed to graduate and who travels to France to give the troops the knowledge and skills they’d need to improve their lives when they returned home. Her younger sister Stella is working in Paris as part of the secretarial team providing support to those negotiating what became known as the Treaty of Versailles at the International Peace Conference of 1919.
I was particularly touched by the part of the story where the three visit Corran and Stella’s brother Jack’s grave in northern France. My great-uncle, like Jack, is buried near Arras. I have visited his grave on a number of occasions so many of the place names, such as Bapaume, Duisans and Amiens, were familiar to me. I always felt it was so sad that my great-uncle’s family would never have been able to visit their son and brother’s grave. The grief felt by the sisters was movingly described and almost palpable. I know exactly what it feels like to stand in one of these graveyards full of young men, knowing that a relative lies there and I could understand their sense of loss and sorrow at the waste of life. I don’t know how my great-uncle died but if he made it as far as a casualty clearing station, I like to think there was someone as compassionate as Rob caring for him and his comrades.
For all the awful experiences of everyone who lived through the First World War there is a cautious sense of optimism and hope towards the end of the book. The characters in the book feel they have a part to play in rebuilding the world and working towards peace. “Now that the war is over, our work really begins.” Despite survivor’s guilt, or perhaps because of it, the characters feel they have duty to live life to the full. Indeed, one of the injured soldiers who Rob treats encourages him to play rugby again saying “you still have your legs and I still have my eyes. I want to see you play for Scotland one day soon. Sir”.
Rugby plays an important part in the life of Rob in particular. He played in the last Calcutta Cup match before the war and I felt that the game foreshadowed the war. The team spirit, the enthusiasm, working together against an enemy in a field of mud all seemed to portend what was to come. As the author writes, “the only tiny mercy is that none of them knew.”
I’ve read quite a lot of fiction set around the time of the First World War and in my opinion this is up there with the best of them such as Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing by Mary Paulson-Ellis. The Paris Peacemakers is just superb, a beautifully written and moving look at life in the aftermath of war.
The Paris Peacemakers follows three Scottish characters after the end of the First World War, although does touch on their experiences just prior to and during the war too. Rob is a surgeon and a Scottish international rugby player. Corran is an exceptionally clever woman who would have graduated with top honours from Cambridge had women been allowed to graduate and who travels to France to give the troops the knowledge and skills they’d need to improve their lives when they returned home. Her younger sister Stella is working in Paris as part of the secretarial team providing support to those negotiating what became known as the Treaty of Versailles at the International Peace Conference of 1919.
I was particularly touched by the part of the story where the three visit Corran and Stella’s brother Jack’s grave in northern France. My great-uncle, like Jack, is buried near Arras. I have visited his grave on a number of occasions so many of the place names, such as Bapaume, Duisans and Amiens, were familiar to me. I always felt it was so sad that my great-uncle’s family would never have been able to visit their son and brother’s grave. The grief felt by the sisters was movingly described and almost palpable. I know exactly what it feels like to stand in one of these graveyards full of young men, knowing that a relative lies there and I could understand their sense of loss and sorrow at the waste of life. I don’t know how my great-uncle died but if he made it as far as a casualty clearing station, I like to think there was someone as compassionate as Rob caring for him and his comrades.
For all the awful experiences of everyone who lived through the First World War there is a cautious sense of optimism and hope towards the end of the book. The characters in the book feel they have a part to play in rebuilding the world and working towards peace. “Now that the war is over, our work really begins.” Despite survivor’s guilt, or perhaps because of it, the characters feel they have duty to live life to the full. Indeed, one of the injured soldiers who Rob treats encourages him to play rugby again saying “you still have your legs and I still have my eyes. I want to see you play for Scotland one day soon. Sir”.
Rugby plays an important part in the life of Rob in particular. He played in the last Calcutta Cup match before the war and I felt that the game foreshadowed the war. The team spirit, the enthusiasm, working together against an enemy in a field of mud all seemed to portend what was to come. As the author writes, “the only tiny mercy is that none of them knew.”
I’ve read quite a lot of fiction set around the time of the First World War and in my opinion this is up there with the best of them such as Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing by Mary Paulson-Ellis. The Paris Peacemakers is just superb, a beautifully written and moving look at life in the aftermath of war.
April 17, 2024
he Paris Peacemakers is the first book I've read by Flora Johnston. I've read quite a few books lately set during World War II, but this is the first in a long time that the subject was WWI. It's actually the first one I've ever read concerning the peace negotiations following The Great War. It was heartbreaking, hard to read at times but also filled with hope.
In 1919, world leaders converge on Paris for the international Peace Conference at the end of The Great War. It's a delicate matter, as each country is fighting for its piece of the pie in this new era; it's all rather contentious. Typist Stella Rutherford of Scotland is one of the young women chosen to work on the mounds of paperwork produced from negotiations. She's thrilled to be in this city full of both glamour and devastation. Besides, the heavy workload helps her escape the constant grief for her younger brother Jack, who was killed in France. Stella's older sister Corran travels to Dieppe to put her academic career to use in helping soldiers learn skills to help them in the post-war world. Rob Campbell, Corran's fiancé, was a surgeon on the front lines, and he cannot get the memories of death, mutilation and horror out of his head. Rob's former rugby teammates from Scotland also weigh heavily on his mind. Will these three Scots be able to put the pieces of their lives back together, as the world leaders attempt to put Europe back together (for better or worse) during peace negotiations?
This was such a fascinating subject! Many of the people made mention of in the book were actually real people, making the story even more impactful. It was disturbing to watch the various countries involved in the peace negotiations fighting more for power over other nations than peace. I liked all of the main characters, but Rob was my overall favorite. Stella was bored in Scotland, and she went to London to work. It was working there that she was chosen to be sent to Paris as a typist for the negotiations. She was thrilled to be in the City of Lights, though one couldn't get away from the devastation. She was trying to get over the horrifying loss of her brother Jack, a very talented artist and the person to whom she was closest. When the descriptions of his artwork that was created on the Front were revealed, it was absolutely horrifying. Rob took Stella and Corran to Jack's gravesite, and it was beyond heartbreaking. Stella found some romance in Paris, but it wasn't until later in the book when we discover who she was meant to be with; I was shocked...and happy. Corran was a lecturer at Oxford, but her job was put on hold when she got the opportunity to go to Dieppe to teach soldiers before they are sent back home. She absolutely loved the job and felt like she made a difference. She became close to Arthur, who was a co-worker there. She was flummoxed when she found out his classes were so popular because he was discussing socialism with them, which struck a chord in him after the world was torn apart. Corran and Rob hadn't seen in each for the longest time, and I wondered if they would in fact end up married. Rob was my favorite here. He was worn out after all his work on the front lines putting young man back together,..or watching them die. He was particularly torn apart by the many deaths of his Scottish rugby teammates; he was with a good friend when the man died as Rob was attempting to comfort him, as there was nothing he could do to help. He no doubt had what we call PTSD today. His hands shook so badly that he wondered if he would ever be a surgeon again. He worked at a rehab facilities for soldiers, but the director ended up telling him basically he needed to find himself. He spent some time in Scotland with Corran, and time in Paris with Stella. The negotiations were completed and the treaty signed, but there was worry that a war would happen again. (And we all know one did...and rather soon.) Lives turned out differently than all three leads expected, but all was well for them. There's a chapter set after the treaty where Rob discovers hope. I cried at that part. Besides from some passages where some characters were declaring how wonderful socialism would be, it was a great story. Hard to read at times, but lovely, too, with love and hope.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
In 1919, world leaders converge on Paris for the international Peace Conference at the end of The Great War. It's a delicate matter, as each country is fighting for its piece of the pie in this new era; it's all rather contentious. Typist Stella Rutherford of Scotland is one of the young women chosen to work on the mounds of paperwork produced from negotiations. She's thrilled to be in this city full of both glamour and devastation. Besides, the heavy workload helps her escape the constant grief for her younger brother Jack, who was killed in France. Stella's older sister Corran travels to Dieppe to put her academic career to use in helping soldiers learn skills to help them in the post-war world. Rob Campbell, Corran's fiancé, was a surgeon on the front lines, and he cannot get the memories of death, mutilation and horror out of his head. Rob's former rugby teammates from Scotland also weigh heavily on his mind. Will these three Scots be able to put the pieces of their lives back together, as the world leaders attempt to put Europe back together (for better or worse) during peace negotiations?
This was such a fascinating subject! Many of the people made mention of in the book were actually real people, making the story even more impactful. It was disturbing to watch the various countries involved in the peace negotiations fighting more for power over other nations than peace. I liked all of the main characters, but Rob was my overall favorite. Stella was bored in Scotland, and she went to London to work. It was working there that she was chosen to be sent to Paris as a typist for the negotiations. She was thrilled to be in the City of Lights, though one couldn't get away from the devastation. She was trying to get over the horrifying loss of her brother Jack, a very talented artist and the person to whom she was closest. When the descriptions of his artwork that was created on the Front were revealed, it was absolutely horrifying. Rob took Stella and Corran to Jack's gravesite, and it was beyond heartbreaking. Stella found some romance in Paris, but it wasn't until later in the book when we discover who she was meant to be with; I was shocked...and happy. Corran was a lecturer at Oxford, but her job was put on hold when she got the opportunity to go to Dieppe to teach soldiers before they are sent back home. She absolutely loved the job and felt like she made a difference. She became close to Arthur, who was a co-worker there. She was flummoxed when she found out his classes were so popular because he was discussing socialism with them, which struck a chord in him after the world was torn apart. Corran and Rob hadn't seen in each for the longest time, and I wondered if they would in fact end up married. Rob was my favorite here. He was worn out after all his work on the front lines putting young man back together,..or watching them die. He was particularly torn apart by the many deaths of his Scottish rugby teammates; he was with a good friend when the man died as Rob was attempting to comfort him, as there was nothing he could do to help. He no doubt had what we call PTSD today. His hands shook so badly that he wondered if he would ever be a surgeon again. He worked at a rehab facilities for soldiers, but the director ended up telling him basically he needed to find himself. He spent some time in Scotland with Corran, and time in Paris with Stella. The negotiations were completed and the treaty signed, but there was worry that a war would happen again. (And we all know one did...and rather soon.) Lives turned out differently than all three leads expected, but all was well for them. There's a chapter set after the treaty where Rob discovers hope. I cried at that part. Besides from some passages where some characters were declaring how wonderful socialism would be, it was a great story. Hard to read at times, but lovely, too, with love and hope.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
February 23, 2024
Thanks are due to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for an ARC of this book to read and review.
The Paris Peace Treaty of 1919 that followed upon the « war to end all wars » was put together in a none too peaceful fashion. Many participants, observers, and ordinary people thought it virtually guaranteed a future war. Historians generally agree. It is to Flora Johnston’s enormous credit that she manages to make a cohesive narrative of what was a near free-for-all of clashing interests, unclear objectives, hidden agendas, and difficult personalities. And she does this while sensitively exploring the lives of fictional characters, primarily the Scottish Rutherford family and their friends, who were forever marked by the war and its aftermath. A sub-set of characters are tied to the others through the historically-real Scottish rugby team, the majority of which enlisted in 1914, and suffered enormous casualties.
The author, for whom this is the second book of a planned trilogy, devoted part 1 to introducing the main characters, including the highly symbolic (as well as real) rugby team as the war begins. She then follows their separate but interconnected paths through the war itself, on the western front and on the home front, drawing some of the most evocative experiences of the horrors I’ve ever read, both in those who fought and those who waited, and prayed, for their return. She also sensitively renders the deep wounds sustained by those who lost their men, or who welcomed them back with terribly scarred minds and bodies, and those who would mourn their loss forever.
First-born Alex was already in the Royal Scottish navy when the war started, and the rare news from him causes much anxiety for his mother and sisters at home. Youngest brother Jack is a promising artist and rugby fan, in a country where rugby, before the war, is obsessively followed. He is a ghost in the story, but a very present one for all the main characters, especially his sisters.
Older sister Corran, an Oxford lecturer, is engaged to Rob Campbell, a gifted rugby player on the Scottish team and a gifted surgeon. Like most of his team, Rob enlists immediately. His war is spent at the brutally understaffed and under-supplied clearing stations on the front, where the unrelenting pressure and unimaginable horrors shake his core beliefs, as they will for many others. They have barely seen each other during the war. An Oxford trained classicist at a time when few women attained those heights, she takes a temporary leave from teaching fine young ladies at Cheltenham College to teach Latin, Greek, and English writing skills to soldiers and veterans at a special camp in Dieppe. Ar first shocked by the roughness of the camp, the men, and her fellow teachers, she is profoundly changed by the end of her brief service.
Younger sister Stella, idealistic like Corran but more pragmatic, finishes her arts degree at Edinburgh University and then opts to do a secretarial course in London. An excellent scholar herself, she has an eye to her family’s diminishing fortunes and the new opportunities for women that the war has opened. Working to pay her way while also perfecting her typing and shorthand, Stella keeps deliberately busy to block the unrelenting grief she feels about the death of her brother and twin spirit Jack. This pays off when her high grades grant her employment with the Imperial British delegation at the Paris conference that begins in January 1919. This is where most of the story takes place, and where Stella, the novel’s main character, begins to understand that everything has changed and that a new world has been born. Like so many others, she also understands that it will sadly retain many of the bitter elements of the pre-war world: class, race and gender inequality, colonial oppression, and war itself.
This is a beautifully written book that explores an important historical event dominated by the world’s male leaders, keen to ensure their power and influence in the post-war world more than a lasting peace. This is a well-known story, but the author offers the perspective of the mostly forgotten women who performed the critical and often exhausting labour to support their needs, demands, and egos, while setting their decisions on the record. Most of them did not even have the right to vote. It’s remarkable how different war and peace can look depending on whose perspective is seen—the ruling men or the humble female support team. Johnston makes it clear where her sympathies lie—and that is precisely where the top-down histories so often miss the mark.
The Paris Peace Treaty of 1919 that followed upon the « war to end all wars » was put together in a none too peaceful fashion. Many participants, observers, and ordinary people thought it virtually guaranteed a future war. Historians generally agree. It is to Flora Johnston’s enormous credit that she manages to make a cohesive narrative of what was a near free-for-all of clashing interests, unclear objectives, hidden agendas, and difficult personalities. And she does this while sensitively exploring the lives of fictional characters, primarily the Scottish Rutherford family and their friends, who were forever marked by the war and its aftermath. A sub-set of characters are tied to the others through the historically-real Scottish rugby team, the majority of which enlisted in 1914, and suffered enormous casualties.
The author, for whom this is the second book of a planned trilogy, devoted part 1 to introducing the main characters, including the highly symbolic (as well as real) rugby team as the war begins. She then follows their separate but interconnected paths through the war itself, on the western front and on the home front, drawing some of the most evocative experiences of the horrors I’ve ever read, both in those who fought and those who waited, and prayed, for their return. She also sensitively renders the deep wounds sustained by those who lost their men, or who welcomed them back with terribly scarred minds and bodies, and those who would mourn their loss forever.
First-born Alex was already in the Royal Scottish navy when the war started, and the rare news from him causes much anxiety for his mother and sisters at home. Youngest brother Jack is a promising artist and rugby fan, in a country where rugby, before the war, is obsessively followed. He is a ghost in the story, but a very present one for all the main characters, especially his sisters.
Older sister Corran, an Oxford lecturer, is engaged to Rob Campbell, a gifted rugby player on the Scottish team and a gifted surgeon. Like most of his team, Rob enlists immediately. His war is spent at the brutally understaffed and under-supplied clearing stations on the front, where the unrelenting pressure and unimaginable horrors shake his core beliefs, as they will for many others. They have barely seen each other during the war. An Oxford trained classicist at a time when few women attained those heights, she takes a temporary leave from teaching fine young ladies at Cheltenham College to teach Latin, Greek, and English writing skills to soldiers and veterans at a special camp in Dieppe. Ar first shocked by the roughness of the camp, the men, and her fellow teachers, she is profoundly changed by the end of her brief service.
Younger sister Stella, idealistic like Corran but more pragmatic, finishes her arts degree at Edinburgh University and then opts to do a secretarial course in London. An excellent scholar herself, she has an eye to her family’s diminishing fortunes and the new opportunities for women that the war has opened. Working to pay her way while also perfecting her typing and shorthand, Stella keeps deliberately busy to block the unrelenting grief she feels about the death of her brother and twin spirit Jack. This pays off when her high grades grant her employment with the Imperial British delegation at the Paris conference that begins in January 1919. This is where most of the story takes place, and where Stella, the novel’s main character, begins to understand that everything has changed and that a new world has been born. Like so many others, she also understands that it will sadly retain many of the bitter elements of the pre-war world: class, race and gender inequality, colonial oppression, and war itself.
This is a beautifully written book that explores an important historical event dominated by the world’s male leaders, keen to ensure their power and influence in the post-war world more than a lasting peace. This is a well-known story, but the author offers the perspective of the mostly forgotten women who performed the critical and often exhausting labour to support their needs, demands, and egos, while setting their decisions on the record. Most of them did not even have the right to vote. It’s remarkable how different war and peace can look depending on whose perspective is seen—the ruling men or the humble female support team. Johnston makes it clear where her sympathies lie—and that is precisely where the top-down histories so often miss the mark.
July 4, 2024
A subtle, slow burning tale of love loss and history
Paris 1919: Stella is a typist at the Peace talks trying to escape her grief for her brother Jack she throws herself into a world filled with danger glamour and devastation.
Her sister Corran is also in France she is teaching the troops and trying to understand the experiences of the men and her fiancé Rob
Rob has left behind a life playing rugby for Scotland to be an my surgeon one who had seen first hand the terrifying horrors of war.
I loved the way so much of Scottish History was woven into the story as well the quiet politicking of the diplomats and Stella’s job on the fringes of a conference that remade the world. Red Clydeside, women’s rights the struggle for African Independence and the ever present threat of the Bolshevik’s and Spanish flu were just a few of the background events in this endlessly fascinating story.
The impact of war changed the course of not just the men’s lives but the women’s too…this is wonderfully played out in the struggles and relationships of Rob, Corran and Stella…
Ingeniously subtle and slow burningly perfect…it made the aftermath of the war feel personal, raw and bittersweet.
I love stories from the inter war era and this one just on the edges of ww1 in Paris & Scotland (very close to home) was one of the best I have read on a long time.
I am also a huge fan of stories about siblings and the dynamic of the brothers and sisters in this one especially the closeness of Stella and Jack contrasted with the distance between the sisters was sublime.
This one has left me with a massive book hangover I cannot wait to find out what Flora Johnson will write next.
Paris 1919: Stella is a typist at the Peace talks trying to escape her grief for her brother Jack she throws herself into a world filled with danger glamour and devastation.
Her sister Corran is also in France she is teaching the troops and trying to understand the experiences of the men and her fiancé Rob
Rob has left behind a life playing rugby for Scotland to be an my surgeon one who had seen first hand the terrifying horrors of war.
I loved the way so much of Scottish History was woven into the story as well the quiet politicking of the diplomats and Stella’s job on the fringes of a conference that remade the world. Red Clydeside, women’s rights the struggle for African Independence and the ever present threat of the Bolshevik’s and Spanish flu were just a few of the background events in this endlessly fascinating story.
The impact of war changed the course of not just the men’s lives but the women’s too…this is wonderfully played out in the struggles and relationships of Rob, Corran and Stella…
Ingeniously subtle and slow burningly perfect…it made the aftermath of the war feel personal, raw and bittersweet.
I love stories from the inter war era and this one just on the edges of ww1 in Paris & Scotland (very close to home) was one of the best I have read on a long time.
I am also a huge fan of stories about siblings and the dynamic of the brothers and sisters in this one especially the closeness of Stella and Jack contrasted with the distance between the sisters was sublime.
This one has left me with a massive book hangover I cannot wait to find out what Flora Johnson will write next.
April 20, 2024
The Paris Peacemakers is a unputdownable, rich novel set during World War I and is filled with finding "Peace" on two levels:. both globally and searching for peace within oneself. Fans of Downton Abbey will love this book, because Downton's success was showing us life 100 years ago. This book goes further as it explores both the history of the period and three individual's journey through this crisis-filled time. This is the first book I read about this often-forgot era that really was personal - that really made you feel what real people went through. I can envision being in Paris and visiting battlegrounds. It is a fast-paced, well-written, novel with a touch of the romance of youth moving into adulthood - with their dreams and hopes eclipsed by the war.
The setting for most of the book is the Peace Conference that officially ends World War I. We follow the youngest of the three characters, Stella, who after college takes a secretarial course in London. She is offered a chance to be a transcriptionist in Paris. There she lives in the Majestic Hotel and works at the Astoria, which still smells from being used as a hospital during the war. She gets to move in the shadows of people she's only read about in newspapers, Prime Minister Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, Clemenceau of France, generals and even a movie star. as an official part of the British delegation to the conference. She even has a suitor of sorts, Freddie, who is hustling for more than just love. Yet, she feels guilty among the glamour since what gave her the opportunity of a lifetime - the war - killed her beloved brother Jack. I enjoyed learning about this conference which I had not come across before. The book inspired me to look up some of the characters presented to me that are lesser known.
Stella's older sister, Corran, stays in the UK during the war pursuing her life long love of classic education, literature, Latin and Greek and teaching at Oxford. She communicates with her mother in Northern Scotland and mourns the loss of Jack and worries about their brother Alex serving in the Navy. She is torn between her career and her love of North Scotland and how the war has changed everything in her world. Corran goes to Northern France as part of a team to rehab soldiers to prepare them to return to England after the war. She teaches them basic skills to get jobs, like letter writing and finds great purpose in that. Corran's friend and love interest Rob was a rugby player about to embark on a promising career as a surgeon when he enlists in the army as a surgeon. He feels trauma and physical ailments from what he witnessed rescuing soldiers from the battlefield and for surviving when many of his Rugby brothers did not survive.
We all know the history -the trenches, mustard gas, shell shock - but how individuals coped with seeing such things and losing a beloved family member and friends the grew up with when they were just out of high school is not something that is conveyed in many books. Ms. Johnston writes these feelings in a positive way as each character goes through their own personal quest for peace to move on. I am glad that Ms. Johnston lets us know that the novel is based on stories her own aunts told her about their experiences as typists living at the Majestic and this made the plot and the characters truly authentic. I might not have been able to read this wonderful book without receiving an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher Allison & Busby, for which I am grateful.
The setting for most of the book is the Peace Conference that officially ends World War I. We follow the youngest of the three characters, Stella, who after college takes a secretarial course in London. She is offered a chance to be a transcriptionist in Paris. There she lives in the Majestic Hotel and works at the Astoria, which still smells from being used as a hospital during the war. She gets to move in the shadows of people she's only read about in newspapers, Prime Minister Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, Clemenceau of France, generals and even a movie star. as an official part of the British delegation to the conference. She even has a suitor of sorts, Freddie, who is hustling for more than just love. Yet, she feels guilty among the glamour since what gave her the opportunity of a lifetime - the war - killed her beloved brother Jack. I enjoyed learning about this conference which I had not come across before. The book inspired me to look up some of the characters presented to me that are lesser known.
Stella's older sister, Corran, stays in the UK during the war pursuing her life long love of classic education, literature, Latin and Greek and teaching at Oxford. She communicates with her mother in Northern Scotland and mourns the loss of Jack and worries about their brother Alex serving in the Navy. She is torn between her career and her love of North Scotland and how the war has changed everything in her world. Corran goes to Northern France as part of a team to rehab soldiers to prepare them to return to England after the war. She teaches them basic skills to get jobs, like letter writing and finds great purpose in that. Corran's friend and love interest Rob was a rugby player about to embark on a promising career as a surgeon when he enlists in the army as a surgeon. He feels trauma and physical ailments from what he witnessed rescuing soldiers from the battlefield and for surviving when many of his Rugby brothers did not survive.
We all know the history -the trenches, mustard gas, shell shock - but how individuals coped with seeing such things and losing a beloved family member and friends the grew up with when they were just out of high school is not something that is conveyed in many books. Ms. Johnston writes these feelings in a positive way as each character goes through their own personal quest for peace to move on. I am glad that Ms. Johnston lets us know that the novel is based on stories her own aunts told her about their experiences as typists living at the Majestic and this made the plot and the characters truly authentic. I might not have been able to read this wonderful book without receiving an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher Allison & Busby, for which I am grateful.
April 3, 2024
This is a very evocative and touching story of those who lived through WW1. We join the characters just as the war has ended and thus begins a coming together of the leaders of all the countries involved in the war in order to hopefully bring about lasting peace. So many lives destroyed, with even those who weren’t killed, living through scenes they can never erase from their minds and so many with life changing injuries.
Stella, wanting to go over to France, in some ways to be closer to her brother, though he had died the previous year on the battle ground, got a job as a typist typing up meeting notes, and further on, agreements drawn up for the peace treaty to be signed by all the participating countries. As the meetings went on, and as the typists became party to the negotiations through their work, it became obvious that each country’s leader was in it for the betterment of their own economies and countries at the expense of others, and were certainly less interested in ensuring it would bring about lasting peace. I could see just from reading this book how complicated it was. It was educational because I know so little about that part of history but it certainly makes you sit back and think how easy it is for disagreement to turn to war.
We also hear from Stella’s sister Corran. Well educated with a degree in classics from Oxford, Corran was very career focussed. She was involved in teaching soldiers in France so that they would have some chance of finding work now that the war was over. She grew to become very fond of the soldiers she worked with and the idea that once the teaching was over and on return to England, she would be expected to marry and give up her career really didn’t appeal to Corran. Was it possible that she could do both? It was something she couldn’t really envisage.
Then we follow Rob, Corran’s fiancé. Rob, a former Scottish rugby player and also doctor had served on the front line throughout the war treating the injured, and had seen so much blood shed, so many deaths, so many men he did his best to help but under the circumstances it was a hopeless situation. It left him quite broken. Out of all the characters I think I liked Rob the best.
Still, I’m beginning to ramble on. This was an exceptionally good book to read. I was sorry to reach the end. It was informative, touching, emotional, beautifully written and excellently researched. I read another book a while ago, a non fiction book called The Facemaker by Dr Lindsey Fitzharris and whilst primarily it told the story of a plastic surgeon who helped put WW1 soldiers faces back together, it also had excerpts, letters and news articles from the war that told of life in the trenches. With that book and this one they highlight just how bad WW1 was.
This is a wonderfully told story, with different facets of the time period discussed, giving much food for thought. Brilliant book.
Stella, wanting to go over to France, in some ways to be closer to her brother, though he had died the previous year on the battle ground, got a job as a typist typing up meeting notes, and further on, agreements drawn up for the peace treaty to be signed by all the participating countries. As the meetings went on, and as the typists became party to the negotiations through their work, it became obvious that each country’s leader was in it for the betterment of their own economies and countries at the expense of others, and were certainly less interested in ensuring it would bring about lasting peace. I could see just from reading this book how complicated it was. It was educational because I know so little about that part of history but it certainly makes you sit back and think how easy it is for disagreement to turn to war.
We also hear from Stella’s sister Corran. Well educated with a degree in classics from Oxford, Corran was very career focussed. She was involved in teaching soldiers in France so that they would have some chance of finding work now that the war was over. She grew to become very fond of the soldiers she worked with and the idea that once the teaching was over and on return to England, she would be expected to marry and give up her career really didn’t appeal to Corran. Was it possible that she could do both? It was something she couldn’t really envisage.
Then we follow Rob, Corran’s fiancé. Rob, a former Scottish rugby player and also doctor had served on the front line throughout the war treating the injured, and had seen so much blood shed, so many deaths, so many men he did his best to help but under the circumstances it was a hopeless situation. It left him quite broken. Out of all the characters I think I liked Rob the best.
Still, I’m beginning to ramble on. This was an exceptionally good book to read. I was sorry to reach the end. It was informative, touching, emotional, beautifully written and excellently researched. I read another book a while ago, a non fiction book called The Facemaker by Dr Lindsey Fitzharris and whilst primarily it told the story of a plastic surgeon who helped put WW1 soldiers faces back together, it also had excerpts, letters and news articles from the war that told of life in the trenches. With that book and this one they highlight just how bad WW1 was.
This is a wonderfully told story, with different facets of the time period discussed, giving much food for thought. Brilliant book.
April 19, 2024
Regular readers of my book reviews will know that I regularly read books set around the two world wars, an era of history I’ve been interested in since studying ‘modern history’ for my O level (yes, I’m that old).
This is a beautifully written, well researched and emotional book following the lives of three young Scottish people, who in early 1914 had dreams and ambitions about their futures.
When we meet them in 1918 during the last few weeks of the war they have lost family, friends and teammates. Each of them has experienced a different set of challenges that no young people should have had to face.
I remember reading about the creation of the League of Nations in textbooks but Flora’s book brought to life how the world went from Armistice Day to creating this body. Mixed in with the personal stories of Stella, Corran and Rob, is a tale about how the world wasted a chance to improve the lives of millions, and led to the rise of Hitler just a few years later.
However it is the personal stories that make this book a must read book. Rob has spent the war trying to save lives as a doctor, Stella is working as a typist at the peace conference in Paris and Corran finds herself teaching the troops in France. Flora’s writing takes the reader to the horrors of the cold and muddy trenches in one chapter and then off to the opulent Hôtel Majestic in another. All three need to move forward in a changed world.
Just this week we are facing headlines about the possibility of World War 3 as tensions rise in a number of countries. If only the people involved could spend a few hours reading this book to understand how war should never be allowed to happen again.
I’m keen to recommend this book and have awarded five stars to it.
This is a beautifully written, well researched and emotional book following the lives of three young Scottish people, who in early 1914 had dreams and ambitions about their futures.
When we meet them in 1918 during the last few weeks of the war they have lost family, friends and teammates. Each of them has experienced a different set of challenges that no young people should have had to face.
I remember reading about the creation of the League of Nations in textbooks but Flora’s book brought to life how the world went from Armistice Day to creating this body. Mixed in with the personal stories of Stella, Corran and Rob, is a tale about how the world wasted a chance to improve the lives of millions, and led to the rise of Hitler just a few years later.
However it is the personal stories that make this book a must read book. Rob has spent the war trying to save lives as a doctor, Stella is working as a typist at the peace conference in Paris and Corran finds herself teaching the troops in France. Flora’s writing takes the reader to the horrors of the cold and muddy trenches in one chapter and then off to the opulent Hôtel Majestic in another. All three need to move forward in a changed world.
Just this week we are facing headlines about the possibility of World War 3 as tensions rise in a number of countries. If only the people involved could spend a few hours reading this book to understand how war should never be allowed to happen again.
I’m keen to recommend this book and have awarded five stars to it.
July 1, 2024
In this fascinatingly complex historical fiction novel, readers travel to the end of World War I and the European continent near the front lines. Following Scottish sisters Corran (a professor of classics, ancient Greek, and Latin) and Stella (a typist attached to the peace negotiations in Paris), readers explore the aftermath of World War I on women who lost brothers to the war and seek to rebuild Europe to prevent future wars and protect the rights of women going forward. Johnston also ties in a history of early twentieth-century Scottish rugby into the book through the perspective of Rob, Corran’s fiance and a military doctor who struggles to return to rugby and civilian life with the end of the war. The three unique characters in this novel highlight new perspectives of the end of World War I, and the focus on the aftermath rather than the war itself is an interesting and enjoyable change of pace. Johnston’s plot and prose are incredibly interesting and engaging, but her characters (particularly Corran and Stella) are the true heart of the story with uniquely complex personalities, backgrounds, and relationships. Historical fiction fans of all genres will enjoy Johnston’s characters and the vivid historical setting she brings to life in this fantastic novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for the advance copy.
Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for the advance copy.
April 17, 2024
Amazing historical fiction!
Based upon the Paris peace treaty this novel takes a dive into life around that time and the acts that were done to put together this treaty. Flora does an awesome job of carving out this story and telling you both facts from this time but also telling you these bits of information in a way that's digestible. I really liked the main characters that this author wrote in this novel, mostly I felt drawn to Corran because of her strength and perseverance which is showed through out this read.
Set around the First World War I wasn't sure how the author was going to portray this time of life but she does it so effortlessly that you cant picture every scene she describes. Each chapter in this novel is so unique and interesting that you will quickly find yourself stuck between the pages of this historical fiction and not wanting to leave.
Based upon the Paris peace treaty this novel takes a dive into life around that time and the acts that were done to put together this treaty. Flora does an awesome job of carving out this story and telling you both facts from this time but also telling you these bits of information in a way that's digestible. I really liked the main characters that this author wrote in this novel, mostly I felt drawn to Corran because of her strength and perseverance which is showed through out this read.
Set around the First World War I wasn't sure how the author was going to portray this time of life but she does it so effortlessly that you cant picture every scene she describes. Each chapter in this novel is so unique and interesting that you will quickly find yourself stuck between the pages of this historical fiction and not wanting to leave.
April 21, 2024
The guns that began their incessant thunder in August 1914 are, at last, silent. The German field army has surrendered, the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet lies at anchor in Scapa Flow, and Wilhelm himself has abdicated. In Paris, the great, the good – but more importantly, the victorious – are assembling to pick the bones out of five years of carnage. Meanwhile, we meet the Rutherford family. Their home is in Thurso, on the stormy north eastern coast of Scotland. Jack is just one of nearly 900,000 British men to have paid what was poetically called ‘the supreme sacrifice’. His sisters are both now in France: Corran is with a charity in Dieppe, bringing some sort of education to young soldiers who have had academic opportunities denied them for the last five years. Stella is in Paris, having been engaged as one of the hundreds of typists needed to record the decisions and arguments in the drama shortly to be played out at Versailles. Alex is still on Royal Navy duties, with his ship keeping a watchful eye on a war that is still being fought between Russian Bolsheviks and the Tsarists they overthrew.The novel follows the lives and loves of the Rutherford girls.
Flora Johnston handles the historical background well. It is now widely acknowledged that the Treaty of Versailles did not end the war between Germany and her enemies. It merely put it in on hold for twenty years. There was not to be a new world, or anything remotely like the ‘land fit for heroes’ that optimists imagined, either in Britain or France,and certainly not in Germany. In vain did US President Wilson strive for some kind of settlement that would be for all time. Who can blame France – with 1.4 million dead, thousands of villages reduced to rubble, its industry shattered and a priceless architectural heritage destroyed – for wanting to make Germany pay?
We see 1919 through many different eyes, and this is a story skillfully told. Arthur, Corran’s teacher colleague is embittered by the sacrifices his own parents made to educate him, and white-knuckled with anger that, back home, his own family, protesting against the lack of jobs, are faced with baton charges by police. Rob Campbell, once Corran’s intended fiancée, is worn down and traumatised by his work as a battlefield surgeon. His fondest hope is purely escapist, and it is that one day he might be able to relive his glory days on the rugby pitch. But with so many of his fellow players rotting under the French and Belgian soil, what hope does he have?
The game of rugby is a powerful motif in this story. in an England-Scotland game in March 1914 the thirty young men are at the peak of fitness, chests bursting with pride. Too many of those chests would, in the coming turmoil, simply become targets for German bullets and shell fragments. On New Year’s Day 1920, the first game of any consequence to follow the war was played, between France and Scotland. It is a small and hesitant step forward, but there are too many missing names of the teamsheets.
The story is a remarkable blend of history, romance and social observation. Flora Johnston is a fly on the wall at a bitter ceremony in a young man’s bedroom that must have been repeated countless times across Britain and, indeed, France, and Germany:
“She felt again the overwhelming sadness of sorting through Jack’s possessions yesterday. All over the country there were houses like this, filled with the ephemera of hundreds of thousands of lives that had unexpectedly ceased to exist. Clothes and footballs, bicycles and egg collections, razors and comics and diaries and gramophone records. So much of it: surely far too much for the nations attics or rubbish heaps or junk shops to absorb.”
The Peacemakers of Paris reaches out to so many different readers. WW1 buffs who appreciated Birdsong and Pat Barker’s trilogy will find something here. Those who like romance, a hint of heartbreak, but an optimistic ending will also be happy. Most importantly, anyone who enjoys a novel which is well researched with convincing characters will not be disappointed. Published by Allison & Busby, the book is available now.
Flora Johnston handles the historical background well. It is now widely acknowledged that the Treaty of Versailles did not end the war between Germany and her enemies. It merely put it in on hold for twenty years. There was not to be a new world, or anything remotely like the ‘land fit for heroes’ that optimists imagined, either in Britain or France,and certainly not in Germany. In vain did US President Wilson strive for some kind of settlement that would be for all time. Who can blame France – with 1.4 million dead, thousands of villages reduced to rubble, its industry shattered and a priceless architectural heritage destroyed – for wanting to make Germany pay?
We see 1919 through many different eyes, and this is a story skillfully told. Arthur, Corran’s teacher colleague is embittered by the sacrifices his own parents made to educate him, and white-knuckled with anger that, back home, his own family, protesting against the lack of jobs, are faced with baton charges by police. Rob Campbell, once Corran’s intended fiancée, is worn down and traumatised by his work as a battlefield surgeon. His fondest hope is purely escapist, and it is that one day he might be able to relive his glory days on the rugby pitch. But with so many of his fellow players rotting under the French and Belgian soil, what hope does he have?
The game of rugby is a powerful motif in this story. in an England-Scotland game in March 1914 the thirty young men are at the peak of fitness, chests bursting with pride. Too many of those chests would, in the coming turmoil, simply become targets for German bullets and shell fragments. On New Year’s Day 1920, the first game of any consequence to follow the war was played, between France and Scotland. It is a small and hesitant step forward, but there are too many missing names of the teamsheets.
The story is a remarkable blend of history, romance and social observation. Flora Johnston is a fly on the wall at a bitter ceremony in a young man’s bedroom that must have been repeated countless times across Britain and, indeed, France, and Germany:
“She felt again the overwhelming sadness of sorting through Jack’s possessions yesterday. All over the country there were houses like this, filled with the ephemera of hundreds of thousands of lives that had unexpectedly ceased to exist. Clothes and footballs, bicycles and egg collections, razors and comics and diaries and gramophone records. So much of it: surely far too much for the nations attics or rubbish heaps or junk shops to absorb.”
The Peacemakers of Paris reaches out to so many different readers. WW1 buffs who appreciated Birdsong and Pat Barker’s trilogy will find something here. Those who like romance, a hint of heartbreak, but an optimistic ending will also be happy. Most importantly, anyone who enjoys a novel which is well researched with convincing characters will not be disappointed. Published by Allison & Busby, the book is available now.
April 5, 2024
What a good historical fiction novel this is. I really enjoyed it. Set largely in Paris in 1919 when The Paris Peace Treaty was being negotiated and other parts of France, Scotland and England. Centred around the Rutherford family from Scotland and the eldest daughters fiancé who was a member of the Scottish rugby team. Alex Rutherford is a Royal Navy officer, his younger brother Jack joins the army and is killed in action. Corran is a lecturer at Oxford, St Hilda’s and after the war signs up to teach soldiers in France to help them in getting jobs on their return and her fiancé surgeon Rob Campbell is due to return to the UK, but he is traumatised by everything he has done and seen. And youngest daughter Stella gets a job as a typist with the Imperial British delegation at the Paris conference. Written from the POV’s of Stella, Corran and Rob although Stella’s story is the main thread. Fantastic research made this a fascinating read as the factual detail was brilliantly and seamlessly merged with the fiction.
Briefly, Stella is struggling with her grief over the death of Jack and takes the job in Paris to be closer to him. She is quartered in a nice hotel, spends her days in a small office typing up notes from the many meetings being held and her evenings enjoying the hotel’s entertainment and going out to clubs and restaurants. Meanwhile, Corran is living in basic conditions in a hut but she realises that teaching is for her a calling and that she wants to carry on, but if she marries that won’t be possible. Rob has had a terrible war and seen things no one should see. He tries to hide it but he is clearly suffering from what we now call PTSD.
The interweaving of details of the deaths of the members of the Scottish Rugby Team was quite emotional, so sad that so many of them lost their lives. I’ve since done more reading around the Peace Treaty and the author has done a great job of making what was a difficult and challenging period of time easily readable. Some of the descriptions of life at the front are pretty graphic but not gratuitous - I found some of it quite upsetting. A very good read that I found completely compelling, and i learned a lot. Great read.
Briefly, Stella is struggling with her grief over the death of Jack and takes the job in Paris to be closer to him. She is quartered in a nice hotel, spends her days in a small office typing up notes from the many meetings being held and her evenings enjoying the hotel’s entertainment and going out to clubs and restaurants. Meanwhile, Corran is living in basic conditions in a hut but she realises that teaching is for her a calling and that she wants to carry on, but if she marries that won’t be possible. Rob has had a terrible war and seen things no one should see. He tries to hide it but he is clearly suffering from what we now call PTSD.
The interweaving of details of the deaths of the members of the Scottish Rugby Team was quite emotional, so sad that so many of them lost their lives. I’ve since done more reading around the Peace Treaty and the author has done a great job of making what was a difficult and challenging period of time easily readable. Some of the descriptions of life at the front are pretty graphic but not gratuitous - I found some of it quite upsetting. A very good read that I found completely compelling, and i learned a lot. Great read.
August 20, 2024
I love historical fiction in general and First World War fiction in particular so Flora Johnston’s The Paris Peacemakers was a must read for me .It is set in the period immediately after the end of the war, a time which is relatively neglected in fiction. Thanks to Flora that is no longer the case. Her novel s meticulously researched and historically accurate to a fault. She conveys the chaos and turmoil of post war Europe and brings to life the sense of individual devastation and loss through the experiences of her main characters. The pain and suffering did not end with the signing of the armistice but there is also a sense of optimism and reconstruction at the heart of the story. The Paris of 1918-19 is vividly brought to life and the sense of excitement which young women involved in the peace settlement must have felt is palpable. I enjoyed the inclusion of real historical figure in the narrative from the heroic stance taken by Scotland’s rugby captain and conscientious objector John MacCallum to a glimpse of the personal life of David Lloyd George dancing with his daughter in the palace of Versailles.
Sisters Stella and Corran Rutherford and Corran’s fiancé Rob Campbell are highly convincing characters. The sisters typify the lives of many young women at that time. They put their heart and soul into the new opportunities they campaigned for during the war and then are left uncertain about society’s expectations for them in the post war period. Neither were prepared to return to “normality” And their sense of loss at the death of their brother is portrayed beautifully with echoes of Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. Rob, a doctor and rugby player belonged to the “play the game “generation: that group of doomed young men who left for the war with such optimism and naivety to be crushed in the trenches of the Western Front. He is left mentally scarred by his experiences.
What I think is the greatest strength of the novel is the quality of Flora’s writing. The intrigues of the peace-making process are written with clarity and the characters’ sufferings are dealt with empathetically. Be prepared to shed a tear-I did. The Paris Peacemakers is a worthy addition to the great novels about the First World War.
Sisters Stella and Corran Rutherford and Corran’s fiancé Rob Campbell are highly convincing characters. The sisters typify the lives of many young women at that time. They put their heart and soul into the new opportunities they campaigned for during the war and then are left uncertain about society’s expectations for them in the post war period. Neither were prepared to return to “normality” And their sense of loss at the death of their brother is portrayed beautifully with echoes of Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. Rob, a doctor and rugby player belonged to the “play the game “generation: that group of doomed young men who left for the war with such optimism and naivety to be crushed in the trenches of the Western Front. He is left mentally scarred by his experiences.
What I think is the greatest strength of the novel is the quality of Flora’s writing. The intrigues of the peace-making process are written with clarity and the characters’ sufferings are dealt with empathetically. Be prepared to shed a tear-I did. The Paris Peacemakers is a worthy addition to the great novels about the First World War.
March 25, 2025
Historical novel set in PARIS (and Scotland)
This novel deals with the notion of peace – politically on the world stage and on a personal level – set against the backdrop of The Paris Peace Conference. This consisted of 5 treaties which re-arranged the maps of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands. The Treaty of Versailles was the culmination. The losing nations were not invited to participate and the terms imposed caused festering resentment. The author captures not only the relief of the end of the war but also the sense of futility and a deep frustration that lessons may not have been learned. This, we know only too well, is justified.
It is against this broad and historically factual backdrop that the author crafts her story.
Sisters Stella and Corran have lost their brother, Jack and at one point after the war they travel to visit his grave. We have been introduced to Jack and Corran’s later fiancé in the first chapter, where the girls are watching a rugby match taking place on 21 March 1914 and the sense of carefree youth and high spirits forms a stark contrast to the events that these young people go on to endure during the war years. This is poignantly scripted because we know they have no knowledge of what the future holds.
Stella is posted to Paris to transcribe the details of the peace terms and Corran is delighted to be teaching soldiers useful skills, but both young women are soon disheartened by the level of misogyny and the lack of opportunity for women. They have to tap into inner strengths to assert themselves at kinds of levels.
Rob, meanwhile as a surgeon, has had a host of atrocious experiences that he has to somehow process so that he can adjust and continue with some semblance of life after the war.
This is the kind of novel that brings history to life through an accessible storyline. Set against real life events it enables the reader to experience events through the characters and gain a sense of the terrible and personal consequences of war. There are poignant and heart-rending parts in this story that add a high degree of humanity to a sadly common experience.
This novel deals with the notion of peace – politically on the world stage and on a personal level – set against the backdrop of The Paris Peace Conference. This consisted of 5 treaties which re-arranged the maps of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands. The Treaty of Versailles was the culmination. The losing nations were not invited to participate and the terms imposed caused festering resentment. The author captures not only the relief of the end of the war but also the sense of futility and a deep frustration that lessons may not have been learned. This, we know only too well, is justified.
It is against this broad and historically factual backdrop that the author crafts her story.
Sisters Stella and Corran have lost their brother, Jack and at one point after the war they travel to visit his grave. We have been introduced to Jack and Corran’s later fiancé in the first chapter, where the girls are watching a rugby match taking place on 21 March 1914 and the sense of carefree youth and high spirits forms a stark contrast to the events that these young people go on to endure during the war years. This is poignantly scripted because we know they have no knowledge of what the future holds.
Stella is posted to Paris to transcribe the details of the peace terms and Corran is delighted to be teaching soldiers useful skills, but both young women are soon disheartened by the level of misogyny and the lack of opportunity for women. They have to tap into inner strengths to assert themselves at kinds of levels.
Rob, meanwhile as a surgeon, has had a host of atrocious experiences that he has to somehow process so that he can adjust and continue with some semblance of life after the war.
This is the kind of novel that brings history to life through an accessible storyline. Set against real life events it enables the reader to experience events through the characters and gain a sense of the terrible and personal consequences of war. There are poignant and heart-rending parts in this story that add a high degree of humanity to a sadly common experience.
April 17, 2024
I started The Paris Peacemakers and being transparent it took me a while to tune into the author’s unique writing style. I am glad I eventually found the writing rhythm and immersed myself completely in the book.
The book follows Stella, Corran and Rob. It starts at a Rugby game in Edinburgh, Scotland. Just before the start of WW1. We see the comradery of the Rugy players and the support and love from the crowds. A happy moment before the horrors they would all face with the war.
My takeaway from the feeling of the book was that the author wanted to encompass the way people behaved back then. A stiff upper lip, nobody discussing feeling and all rather proper. Even though there are horrific events in the story and very heart-pulling things happening it doesn’t have the emotional verbalism that a book set today would have. If it was set today, they would all be having mental health days and therapy. Both of which I am glad are available. But back then the a lack of talking about feelings, especially from those on the front line who saw friends and co-workers killed. I feel it made it worse for them, they had no verbal outlet. The author captured that feeling perfectly. So for me when difficult things were happening it was obvious the lack of emotion involved was purposeful.
I enjoyed also that I learned so much. I never knew about the Peace talks or those typists who went to The Majestic Hotel. I found that truly fascinating and I was transported there. The story feels solid in the way it flows with all the characters interweaving each other’s lives.
With today’s current affairs, it feels like history repeating itself. With all those lives wasted nobody in power seems to have learned. Over 100 years later and still men in power making life-changing decisions and using people as collateral damage. It is utterly devastating.
I do read a lot of war saga fiction and that tends to be the families left at home and the different struggles they have with rations and family matters. It was very interesting to have this book be from the people out there in the war. Be it on the battle lines, or teaching soldiers or in the hotel doing important work. That was such a different angle to write about and it works. It had me hooked and I was totally immersed and could see everything happening as I ghosted alongside Rob, Stella and Corran.
So if you are looking for a new read, I recommend The Paris Peacemakers. You will educated and satisfied when you close the last page. You will also be waiting maybe not so patiently for the sequel in 2025.
The book follows Stella, Corran and Rob. It starts at a Rugby game in Edinburgh, Scotland. Just before the start of WW1. We see the comradery of the Rugy players and the support and love from the crowds. A happy moment before the horrors they would all face with the war.
My takeaway from the feeling of the book was that the author wanted to encompass the way people behaved back then. A stiff upper lip, nobody discussing feeling and all rather proper. Even though there are horrific events in the story and very heart-pulling things happening it doesn’t have the emotional verbalism that a book set today would have. If it was set today, they would all be having mental health days and therapy. Both of which I am glad are available. But back then the a lack of talking about feelings, especially from those on the front line who saw friends and co-workers killed. I feel it made it worse for them, they had no verbal outlet. The author captured that feeling perfectly. So for me when difficult things were happening it was obvious the lack of emotion involved was purposeful.
I enjoyed also that I learned so much. I never knew about the Peace talks or those typists who went to The Majestic Hotel. I found that truly fascinating and I was transported there. The story feels solid in the way it flows with all the characters interweaving each other’s lives.
With today’s current affairs, it feels like history repeating itself. With all those lives wasted nobody in power seems to have learned. Over 100 years later and still men in power making life-changing decisions and using people as collateral damage. It is utterly devastating.
I do read a lot of war saga fiction and that tends to be the families left at home and the different struggles they have with rations and family matters. It was very interesting to have this book be from the people out there in the war. Be it on the battle lines, or teaching soldiers or in the hotel doing important work. That was such a different angle to write about and it works. It had me hooked and I was totally immersed and could see everything happening as I ghosted alongside Rob, Stella and Corran.
So if you are looking for a new read, I recommend The Paris Peacemakers. You will educated and satisfied when you close the last page. You will also be waiting maybe not so patiently for the sequel in 2025.
November 29, 2024
Two sisters, in different worlds, try to heal the wounds from WWII
1919 Europe is trying to heal, and so are two sisters, Corran and Stella. What does Corran’s specialty, the Greek and Latin classics she learned at Cambridge, even mean, now? Corran is going to Dieppe, to teach at a YMCA education centre for the troops.
Stella and her Irish friend Lily experience the spontaneous celebration outside Buckingham Palace, the crowd baying for King George to share in their joy. In the crowd they meet American soldiers.
Stella is in Paris, among ‘the chic and the shattered’, here to work as a typist for international peace. She wants to ‘get the years back’ that war has stolen from them all. Their dead brother Jack is a subject neither sister wants to acknowledge.
Corran’s fiancé Rob is a surgeon, clearing casualties in France. As well as catastrophic injuries, they face an outbreak of influenza.
The focus of this novel is both sad and uplifting. The damage and the desolation of war is well portrayed; we sense the characters striving to heave themselves and their world out of ruin. Even the Germans are helping.
The descriptions of grief for Jack are emotional, the descriptions of wounds and amputations harrowing. Rob’s work is not only physically demanding, it requires huge strength of character—the mission to regain ‘dignity and self-belief after all they’ve been through’. At clubs playing American music, people are dancing ‘with a frenzy that was surely only this side of fun’.
The parallels with the Odyssey are gorgeous and remind us of the relentless march of history.
I found courage in this story, the courage to create a new world out of a destroyed one. This may be a work of fiction, but we must never forget that all this really happened, as our world slides into relentless repeat.
This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.
1919 Europe is trying to heal, and so are two sisters, Corran and Stella. What does Corran’s specialty, the Greek and Latin classics she learned at Cambridge, even mean, now? Corran is going to Dieppe, to teach at a YMCA education centre for the troops.
Stella and her Irish friend Lily experience the spontaneous celebration outside Buckingham Palace, the crowd baying for King George to share in their joy. In the crowd they meet American soldiers.
Stella is in Paris, among ‘the chic and the shattered’, here to work as a typist for international peace. She wants to ‘get the years back’ that war has stolen from them all. Their dead brother Jack is a subject neither sister wants to acknowledge.
Corran’s fiancé Rob is a surgeon, clearing casualties in France. As well as catastrophic injuries, they face an outbreak of influenza.
The focus of this novel is both sad and uplifting. The damage and the desolation of war is well portrayed; we sense the characters striving to heave themselves and their world out of ruin. Even the Germans are helping.
The descriptions of grief for Jack are emotional, the descriptions of wounds and amputations harrowing. Rob’s work is not only physically demanding, it requires huge strength of character—the mission to regain ‘dignity and self-belief after all they’ve been through’. At clubs playing American music, people are dancing ‘with a frenzy that was surely only this side of fun’.
The parallels with the Odyssey are gorgeous and remind us of the relentless march of history.
I found courage in this story, the courage to create a new world out of a destroyed one. This may be a work of fiction, but we must never forget that all this really happened, as our world slides into relentless repeat.
This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review.
October 19, 2025
I may be a quite rare reader in that I actually know about the conference, because I wrote a thesis on Quaker Peace History. Johnston does a really very good job of bringing to life the conference, the people who worked on it, the women determined not go to back to the home, the psychological and physical damage, and that sense of both a rupture with the old world and that old world determined not to let go in a hurry.
See here for the wikipedia page of Christina Keith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christi...
The framework of the last pre war Scotland-England Rugby match and what happened to the team members I didn't know about. It worked incredibly well to make the bitter losses very close to a generation that probably don't really feel it any more (I'm only just old enough to have met veterans and war widows of the Great War).
I'd love to read Johnston's aunts actual diaries, but in their absence this is a very good read. Highly recommended.
See here for the wikipedia page of Christina Keith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christi...
The framework of the last pre war Scotland-England Rugby match and what happened to the team members I didn't know about. It worked incredibly well to make the bitter losses very close to a generation that probably don't really feel it any more (I'm only just old enough to have met veterans and war widows of the Great War).
I'd love to read Johnston's aunts actual diaries, but in their absence this is a very good read. Highly recommended.
May 30, 2024
This is a book to savour. The characters, some whom are based on the author's ancestors, are really interesting, vividly described and come alive from the outset. I liked the original approach of following their experiences around the edges of the main events of WW1 and the subsequent peace negotiations. It's refreshing to read such well-researched and considered details of lives and relationships from a new perspective, to experience their personal dramas unfolding amidst the unimaginably awful theatre of war and the subsequent flu epidemic, to share their individual stories of loss, perseverance and kindness. I particularly enjoyed the circularity of the book's structure and the very poignant rugby theme running throughout.
December 7, 2024
Thank you Allison & Busby for allowing me to read and review The Paris Peacemakers The powerful tale of love and loss in the aftermath of World War One by Flora Johnston on NetGalley.
Published: 04/18/24
Stars: 2.5
To each their own. This may work for you. Unfortunately, I was bored and frustrated. I try to only DNF NetGalley books on moral principles, graphic sex or abuse. I need a reason that I didn't see in the synopsis.
The Paris Peacemakers didn't meet my DNF NetGalley standards. Whether it is the writing style or the characters themselves I will never know, but I didn't care for the book. Hence, there was no story. I trudged along like a disgruntled soldier, are soldiers allowed to show such feelings?
I would gift this unapologetically.
Published: 04/18/24
Stars: 2.5
To each their own. This may work for you. Unfortunately, I was bored and frustrated. I try to only DNF NetGalley books on moral principles, graphic sex or abuse. I need a reason that I didn't see in the synopsis.
The Paris Peacemakers didn't meet my DNF NetGalley standards. Whether it is the writing style or the characters themselves I will never know, but I didn't care for the book. Hence, there was no story. I trudged along like a disgruntled soldier, are soldiers allowed to show such feelings?
I would gift this unapologetically.
April 21, 2024
This is a story, based on real people, that will touch your heart. The Paris Peacemakers, by Flora Johnston, not only brings to life the horrors of World War 1, it tells of the peace deliberations in Paris after armistice. Four siblings from northern Scotland find different ways to serve during and after the war. The reader sees how war impacts both the soldiers, and their families. After the guns are silenced, do the peace treaty negotiators want true and lasting peace, or do they want revenge.? This is a unique look at the time immediately after WWI. I was able to read an ARC on #NetGalley.
January 3, 2026
I thought this was probably a realistic depiction of the emotions people suffered during and after the First World War. The descriptions of the horrors people experienced were graphic but not over dramatised. All the relationships were easy to relate to and there was no gratuitous sex which was a bonus in my opinion! This was the most moving book I have read for a good while. I thought it was very well written and the audio version very well narrated.
March 29, 2024
An interesting perspective of the International Peace Conference of 1912, told from the perspectives of one Scottish family, who were forever changed by WWI.
I appreciated how the author showed the graphic nature of war, nothing is sugar coated, be mindful of that if you have a sensitive stomach.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.
I appreciated how the author showed the graphic nature of war, nothing is sugar coated, be mindful of that if you have a sensitive stomach.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.
April 8, 2025
I absolutely loved this book! The story gripped me from page one and I couldn’t put it down. The characters are brilliantly described and so utterly compelling and real . You are drawn into their lives and emotions whilst all the time experiencing the aftermath of World War 1 and the peace process in Paris. I couldn’t recommend it enough and can’t wait for the next book!
April 15, 2024
Poignant, heartbreaking, realistic. A well plotted story set after WWI that doesn't spare punches and moves you to tears.
Full of food for thought, compelling
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Full of food for thought, compelling
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Read
January 26, 2025Couldn't finish it
May 16, 2024
This is a fabulous book. It explored how the ‘peace’ unfolded after WW1 through the eyes of three individuals all of whom were in France at the end of the war. It stressed the missed opportunity for lasting peace and how the treaty of Versailles was an act of revenge. It explored issues of disability, ptsd (she’ll shock, mental illness) but also women’s rights as at the time they were often denied meaningful opportunities. It ended with an unexpected love story although it would have been nice to see more of the older sister, towards the end. She appeared to be a main character at the start but seemed sidelined by the end. This did not spoil my enjoyment of wha5 was a profound read that taught me a lot about the end of this tragic conflict
April 3, 2024
Thanks are due to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for an ARC of this book to read and review.
I rarely care to write a less-than-stellar review because anyone brave enough to write a story for others to read is someone to be celebrated. While in the end, I enjoyed this book, I found the voices of the main characters to be very similar. When I had to put down the book in the middle of a chapter, I needed to go back to the start of each chapter to figure out who was speaking. I found myself in love with the research that went into this book. There were things I never knew about WWI that I found fascinating. I kept reading for that reason alone. The writing itself for the book was excellent. I think it might have been better written from one viewpoint. That being said, I tend to judge how a book made me feel, which usually shows up with me thinking about the characters after the book is over. It did that for me.
I rarely care to write a less-than-stellar review because anyone brave enough to write a story for others to read is someone to be celebrated. While in the end, I enjoyed this book, I found the voices of the main characters to be very similar. When I had to put down the book in the middle of a chapter, I needed to go back to the start of each chapter to figure out who was speaking. I found myself in love with the research that went into this book. There were things I never knew about WWI that I found fascinating. I kept reading for that reason alone. The writing itself for the book was excellent. I think it might have been better written from one viewpoint. That being said, I tend to judge how a book made me feel, which usually shows up with me thinking about the characters after the book is over. It did that for me.
February 26, 2025
In her acknowledgments, the author said that much of this book was based on her family's history. So, I will say that my disappointment is based on my expectations and not the book itself. Because of the title and the description that places a main character at the 1919 Paris Peace Talks, I was hoping there would be more about the tensions involved in the Talks.
Of the three main characters, only one, Stella, is at the Talks and she admits that as a typist who did not attend the sessions, much of the information about politics is second-hand and amounts to a telling. The other two main characters, Corran and Rob, follow what has become conventions for historical fiction for this period - a woman using the opportunities of the war to break out from the social constraints of the time and a veteran who is psychologically scarred and finds salvation through ... (fill in the activity).
For most of the novel, the main characters occupy their own environment, so you essentially have three novels blended together.
Of the three main characters, only one, Stella, is at the Talks and she admits that as a typist who did not attend the sessions, much of the information about politics is second-hand and amounts to a telling. The other two main characters, Corran and Rob, follow what has become conventions for historical fiction for this period - a woman using the opportunities of the war to break out from the social constraints of the time and a veteran who is psychologically scarred and finds salvation through ... (fill in the activity).
For most of the novel, the main characters occupy their own environment, so you essentially have three novels blended together.
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