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Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War
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Expected 26 Feb 26A meeting place for Europe’s bohemian artists. A headquarters of the Nazi occupation. A shelter for camp survivors.
This is the story of how one Paris hotel came to hold the weight of a century.
The Hotel Lutetia is a Paris institution, the only ‘grand’ hotel on the city’s bohemian Left Bank. Ever since it opened, it has served as a meeting place for artists, musicians and politicians. André Gide took his lunch here, James Joyce lived in one of its rooms, Picasso and Matisse were regular guests. It has a darker history, too. During one short period, it became a focus for some of the most dramatic and terrible events in recent history.
In the 1930s the Hotel Lutetia attracted intellectuals and political activists, forced to flee their homes when Hitler came to power, who met here with the hope of forming an alternative government. But when war came, Paris was occupied, and the hotel became the headquarters of the German military intelligence service – and the centre of their operation to root out enemies of the Reich. In 1945, the Lutetia was requisitioned once more, this time transformed into a reception centre for deportees returning from concentration camps.
Hotel Exile is about what happens on the edges of a war. At its heart are three groups of people connected to a place, to one another, and to the dark ideology which dictates the course of their lives. A masterpiece of empathy and concision, Jane Rogoyska’s extraordinary new book offers us a vision of individual human beings desperately trying to find a path through some of the twentieth century’s most devastating events.
This is the story of how one Paris hotel came to hold the weight of a century.
The Hotel Lutetia is a Paris institution, the only ‘grand’ hotel on the city’s bohemian Left Bank. Ever since it opened, it has served as a meeting place for artists, musicians and politicians. André Gide took his lunch here, James Joyce lived in one of its rooms, Picasso and Matisse were regular guests. It has a darker history, too. During one short period, it became a focus for some of the most dramatic and terrible events in recent history.
In the 1930s the Hotel Lutetia attracted intellectuals and political activists, forced to flee their homes when Hitler came to power, who met here with the hope of forming an alternative government. But when war came, Paris was occupied, and the hotel became the headquarters of the German military intelligence service – and the centre of their operation to root out enemies of the Reich. In 1945, the Lutetia was requisitioned once more, this time transformed into a reception centre for deportees returning from concentration camps.
Hotel Exile is about what happens on the edges of a war. At its heart are three groups of people connected to a place, to one another, and to the dark ideology which dictates the course of their lives. A masterpiece of empathy and concision, Jane Rogoyska’s extraordinary new book offers us a vision of individual human beings desperately trying to find a path through some of the twentieth century’s most devastating events.
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Expected publication February 26, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 29, 2025
This is a return to the Second World War and, specifically, the experience in France. While the hook is the Hotel Lutetia in Paris, the actual text wanders quite far and only intermittently touches base with the hotel.
Divided into three parts, the first explores the experience of German refugees to France, some of whom end up at the Lutetia, especially those with intellectual or artistic connections such as Walter Benjamin and Anna Seghers. The second part looks at how the hotel changes when Paris is under occupation and it becomes a prime place for Nazi officers. It's the third part where I felt this book really earned its keep: it explores the return of those French citizens who had been deported and survived the camps when the Lutetia acts as a reception centre. Alongside French Jews in this part, we learn the stories of non-Jewish Resistance fighters and others who refused to collaborate with the Nazi regime. The aftermath of their experience is especially poignant, specifically the way no-one who had remained in France during the Occupation wanted to hear their stories or about the lived experience of the camps: 'I had an apple and ate it on the metro. There was a man checking tickets and he said, "What's this then?" I explained that we were deportees returning from Auschwitz. He said, "Oh, you look well. You must have had a good life there.'
It's worth adding that the way German refugees in Paris in the first part are treated, regardless of whether they are Jewish or not, is horribly reminiscent of current dehumanising discourses from both the far-right and, increasingly, governments: the media talking of those fleeing Nazi Germany as 'an invasion', of 'immigrants bringing their quarrels to the streets of France' and 'endangering French citizens' are horribly familiar and it's also the case that many were what today would be termed 'illegal or undocumented immigrants', either because they fled Nazi Germany with expired passports or no passports at all, or because the Nazis deprived them of their German citizenship for 'disloyalty' to the Reich.
There's a strong focus on individual people in this book making the history personal. That said, I'd have liked, perhaps, a closer tie to the hotel as blurbed. The second section overlaps quite a bit with more focused histories such as Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation. But the concept of exploring the war via the displacement of people to a single hotel in Paris gives this book a fascinating angle and the aftermath section is especially strong.
Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC via Netgalley
Divided into three parts, the first explores the experience of German refugees to France, some of whom end up at the Lutetia, especially those with intellectual or artistic connections such as Walter Benjamin and Anna Seghers. The second part looks at how the hotel changes when Paris is under occupation and it becomes a prime place for Nazi officers. It's the third part where I felt this book really earned its keep: it explores the return of those French citizens who had been deported and survived the camps when the Lutetia acts as a reception centre. Alongside French Jews in this part, we learn the stories of non-Jewish Resistance fighters and others who refused to collaborate with the Nazi regime. The aftermath of their experience is especially poignant, specifically the way no-one who had remained in France during the Occupation wanted to hear their stories or about the lived experience of the camps: 'I had an apple and ate it on the metro. There was a man checking tickets and he said, "What's this then?" I explained that we were deportees returning from Auschwitz. He said, "Oh, you look well. You must have had a good life there.'
It's worth adding that the way German refugees in Paris in the first part are treated, regardless of whether they are Jewish or not, is horribly reminiscent of current dehumanising discourses from both the far-right and, increasingly, governments: the media talking of those fleeing Nazi Germany as 'an invasion', of 'immigrants bringing their quarrels to the streets of France' and 'endangering French citizens' are horribly familiar and it's also the case that many were what today would be termed 'illegal or undocumented immigrants', either because they fled Nazi Germany with expired passports or no passports at all, or because the Nazis deprived them of their German citizenship for 'disloyalty' to the Reich.
There's a strong focus on individual people in this book making the history personal. That said, I'd have liked, perhaps, a closer tie to the hotel as blurbed. The second section overlaps quite a bit with more focused histories such as Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation. But the concept of exploring the war via the displacement of people to a single hotel in Paris gives this book a fascinating angle and the aftermath section is especially strong.
Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC via Netgalley
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5
Whilst this book isn't exactly what I was expecting it is, nonetheless, an extremely moving and frankly terrifying look at Paris from the moment the Nazis arrived to the point at which the final deportees/POWs arrive home. At the heart of the story is the Hotel Lutetia on the left bank of the Seine.
In wartime the Nazis took over the hotel and when they left it was used as a central point for those returning. It is the harrowing descriptions of these people that stays with me - children searching for parents, those who were never found, surprising reunions - they all happen at the Lutetia.
The Lutetia is now a 5 star hotel catering to the super rich. The only nod to the hotel's wartime story is a small plaque on the outside of the building. Jane Rogoyska brings the hotel's history back to life.
A very interesting, frightening but moving book about a hotel, its inhabitants and those who passed through its doors. A tale if humanity. I would most definitely recommend this book.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin Press UK for the advance review copy.
Whilst this book isn't exactly what I was expecting it is, nonetheless, an extremely moving and frankly terrifying look at Paris from the moment the Nazis arrived to the point at which the final deportees/POWs arrive home. At the heart of the story is the Hotel Lutetia on the left bank of the Seine.
In wartime the Nazis took over the hotel and when they left it was used as a central point for those returning. It is the harrowing descriptions of these people that stays with me - children searching for parents, those who were never found, surprising reunions - they all happen at the Lutetia.
The Lutetia is now a 5 star hotel catering to the super rich. The only nod to the hotel's wartime story is a small plaque on the outside of the building. Jane Rogoyska brings the hotel's history back to life.
A very interesting, frightening but moving book about a hotel, its inhabitants and those who passed through its doors. A tale if humanity. I would most definitely recommend this book.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin Press UK for the advance review copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
In this book, Jane Rogoyska is exploring the experience of exile in various forms. She does this describing the lives of people who fall within three different groups, all having interacted in some way with the Hotel Lutetia on Paris' Left Bank. She states that, "This is not the story of a famous Paris hotel. It is about three groups of people who are connected to a particular city, to that particular hotel, to one another, and to the grim ideology which dictates the course of their lives. These groups are linked--willingly or not--by race, nationality, language, and their status as outsiders. They all live in exile, in profoundly different ways. They are displaced, dislocated, their lives disrupted. They are temporary beings who live out of suitcases. Their drama plays out in many hotel rooms. The Hotel Lutetia is the prism through which we view their lives." (p 3) The three groups she focuses on in this book are people in the resistance movement in France, Nazi occupiers, and finally, people who have been liberated from concentration camps at the end of the war. Within each group, there are particular people the author writes about and through them readers get a sense of the larger environment in which events occurred. She writes in present tense for most of the book, with occasional paragraphs of objective historical fact written in past tense. She does speculate at times about how someone might have felt in a particular situation, but it's very clear to the reader when this is happening. I found this to be a fascinating, heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and very readable book. At times it read like a novel in that I cared about what was happening to some of the people she highlighted and wanted to know what happened to them. This is an important book both for the historical information provided but also because of the idea of different kinds of exile. More and more people are finding themselves in one kind of exile or another, whether through war, invasion, climate crisis, hunger, political oppression, etc. It is important for all of us to understand better what this means. Of course, exiled people today will have different circumstances in some ways than people described in this book. But there will be similarities as well. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time. I highly recommend it.
I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy.
I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy.
November 21, 2025
I can highly recommend Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War (kindle edition) by Jane Rogoyska an eye-opening non-fiction account based on true events. Rogoyska really delves deeply into the onset of invasion and the hotel staff had to adapt to catering for exiles, Germans and survivors.
Hotel Lutetia in Paris between 1933 and 1945, was a haven for exiles and intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany. During the occupation of Paris, German counterintelligence officers made the hotel their headquarters. After liberation survivors and displaced persons sought refuge there too.
Tramps pay a cafe -bar owner twenty centimes to sleep standing up against a rope. Hunger and destitution plagued the exiled, many of whom lacked French qualifications and didn't speak or write the language. They were known as a flaneurs - men about town whith no identity no valid criteria. They were known to while away their time in libraries or cafes making one hot drink last them for hours on end.
The hammer and sickle versus the silver eagle is very much in play. To be a German in France in 1938 is to be suspect. The city of Paris motto is 'Tossed by the waves but does not sink.' Men aged between twenty to forty nine have to enlist.
Ernest Hemingway and Charles deGaulle with his bride on their way to honeymoon in the 1900's stayed at the Left Bank hotel with a maritime theme. This hotel had two hundred soundproofed bedrooms- ninety of them with bathrooms - as well as a restaurant, reading room, smoking room, billiards room, an American bar, tea -shop, patisserie and an ice-cream shop.
I felt for the survivors who came to the Lutetia as they were malnourished, barely had any hair, full of lice and infections. Upon entering they had DDT sprayed all over them and felt dehumanised.
Hotel Lutetia in Paris between 1933 and 1945, was a haven for exiles and intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany. During the occupation of Paris, German counterintelligence officers made the hotel their headquarters. After liberation survivors and displaced persons sought refuge there too.
Tramps pay a cafe -bar owner twenty centimes to sleep standing up against a rope. Hunger and destitution plagued the exiled, many of whom lacked French qualifications and didn't speak or write the language. They were known as a flaneurs - men about town whith no identity no valid criteria. They were known to while away their time in libraries or cafes making one hot drink last them for hours on end.
The hammer and sickle versus the silver eagle is very much in play. To be a German in France in 1938 is to be suspect. The city of Paris motto is 'Tossed by the waves but does not sink.' Men aged between twenty to forty nine have to enlist.
Ernest Hemingway and Charles deGaulle with his bride on their way to honeymoon in the 1900's stayed at the Left Bank hotel with a maritime theme. This hotel had two hundred soundproofed bedrooms- ninety of them with bathrooms - as well as a restaurant, reading room, smoking room, billiards room, an American bar, tea -shop, patisserie and an ice-cream shop.
I felt for the survivors who came to the Lutetia as they were malnourished, barely had any hair, full of lice and infections. Upon entering they had DDT sprayed all over them and felt dehumanised.
November 27, 2025
Publication date: February 26th 2026
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.
Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska tells the story of Paris’ Hôtel Lutetia during WWII- a glamorous hotel turned wartime hub. It became a refuge for exiles and intellectuals, a base for German intelligence, and later a reception centre for survivors returning from deportation. Through the lives of those who passed through its doors, the book illuminates the human impact of war, exile, and survival.
Hotel Exile is a beautifully written, deeply human exploration of Paris during WWII, told through the lens of the Hôtel Lutetia. The pace mirrors the hotel’s turbulent history-tense under German occupation, reflective during its time as a refuge for exiles, and heartbreakingly poignant as survivors return. Rogoyska captures the emotional reality of displacement, fear, and resilience without leaning on melodrama. While it touches on familiar war-and-refugee tropes, the focus on a single hotel gives the narrative a fresh, intimate perspective. The book reads in vivid, snapshot-like scenes, making history feel immediate, personal, and profoundly moving.
A compelling, empathetic account of exile and survival- a perfect read for anyone who loves historical nonfiction with a human focus.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.
Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska tells the story of Paris’ Hôtel Lutetia during WWII- a glamorous hotel turned wartime hub. It became a refuge for exiles and intellectuals, a base for German intelligence, and later a reception centre for survivors returning from deportation. Through the lives of those who passed through its doors, the book illuminates the human impact of war, exile, and survival.
Hotel Exile is a beautifully written, deeply human exploration of Paris during WWII, told through the lens of the Hôtel Lutetia. The pace mirrors the hotel’s turbulent history-tense under German occupation, reflective during its time as a refuge for exiles, and heartbreakingly poignant as survivors return. Rogoyska captures the emotional reality of displacement, fear, and resilience without leaning on melodrama. While it touches on familiar war-and-refugee tropes, the focus on a single hotel gives the narrative a fresh, intimate perspective. The book reads in vivid, snapshot-like scenes, making history feel immediate, personal, and profoundly moving.
A compelling, empathetic account of exile and survival- a perfect read for anyone who loves historical nonfiction with a human focus.
November 18, 2025
I was asked by NetGalley to review this really interesating story.
In three parts essentially
In the 1930s the Hotel Lutetia attracted intellectuals and political activists, forced to flee their homes when Hitler came to power, who met here with the hope of forming an alternative government., and in 1940 Paris was Natzi occupied, The hotel became the headquarters of the German military intelligence service. Then in 1945 the Lutetia was requisitioned once more, this time transformed into a reception centre for deportees returning from the holocaust.
Three groups of people are connected to this place and one and other. It reminds me of Raffles hotel in Singapore during world wars 2 and the history around this time.
This is tubulent time in history with such atrocities the Nazi regieme bestowed upon people.
Very intense, sad but so well written and researched,
Due for publication Feb 26 2026.
In three parts essentially
In the 1930s the Hotel Lutetia attracted intellectuals and political activists, forced to flee their homes when Hitler came to power, who met here with the hope of forming an alternative government., and in 1940 Paris was Natzi occupied, The hotel became the headquarters of the German military intelligence service. Then in 1945 the Lutetia was requisitioned once more, this time transformed into a reception centre for deportees returning from the holocaust.
Three groups of people are connected to this place and one and other. It reminds me of Raffles hotel in Singapore during world wars 2 and the history around this time.
This is tubulent time in history with such atrocities the Nazi regieme bestowed upon people.
Very intense, sad but so well written and researched,
Due for publication Feb 26 2026.
November 22, 2025
I picked this book to read on the spur of the moment as the name and it’s link to a city reminded me of the novel Hotel Melikov set in Moscow.
However the books are in totally different categories and Hotel Exile is a historical treatise dealing with firstly the exodus of Germans to France fleeing the rise of the Nazi party, secondly the occupation of Paris during the war and in the third part the repatriation of the surviving Jews who have survived the camps in Germany.
The hotel does not feature much in the first half of the book but is prominent in the last third as it becomes the centre for the returning starved and shocked detainees.
The book focuses on the lifes of individuals of literary or political significance and also small families to show the fear and horrors they faced under the Nazi tregime.
It is harrowing reading especially with the situation in Europe being so unstable at present.
Thanks to NetGalley and Allen Lane for the ARC
However the books are in totally different categories and Hotel Exile is a historical treatise dealing with firstly the exodus of Germans to France fleeing the rise of the Nazi party, secondly the occupation of Paris during the war and in the third part the repatriation of the surviving Jews who have survived the camps in Germany.
The hotel does not feature much in the first half of the book but is prominent in the last third as it becomes the centre for the returning starved and shocked detainees.
The book focuses on the lifes of individuals of literary or political significance and also small families to show the fear and horrors they faced under the Nazi tregime.
It is harrowing reading especially with the situation in Europe being so unstable at present.
Thanks to NetGalley and Allen Lane for the ARC
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The story of a hotel on Paris's left bank, this book is split into three sections, pre WW2, during the war and finally the early months after the war ended. It is a work with a huge amount of research that follows various people through the whole of the period. The changes that took place, to the people, to the city and to the hotel are quite mind bending.
For me this was quite a hard book to follow with its enormous cast of characters and huge amount of information and background on many of them, so that I forgot many of them and only odd quirks amongst the others made them stand out in my mind. Despite that it was worth reading for the details of the occupation and what happened when the war ended. Needless to say, neither the French nor the Germans come out of this book looking good.
An interesting read - probably not for everyone because of the incredible detail - but I definitely think I will search out the Hotel Lutetia when I next visit Paris.
For me this was quite a hard book to follow with its enormous cast of characters and huge amount of information and background on many of them, so that I forgot many of them and only odd quirks amongst the others made them stand out in my mind. Despite that it was worth reading for the details of the occupation and what happened when the war ended. Needless to say, neither the French nor the Germans come out of this book looking good.
An interesting read - probably not for everyone because of the incredible detail - but I definitely think I will search out the Hotel Lutetia when I next visit Paris.
November 15, 2025
The attraction to read this book was in part the title and preamble, but also the challenge to read a factual narrative, outside my preferred genre.
A very intense, paced historical novel about the struggles of emigres to survive and flourish in their beliefs in Paris during the lead up to and during WW2. Regrettably very few of the personages resonated with me. From the author’s well researched writing, it does not escape me of the delicate political backdrop and the brutalities of war. I found this a difficult read, particularly with so many players in the mix, and it required considerable concentration. The attraction of the Hotel Lutetia is undoubtedly the central focus for this eclectic group.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this ARC.
A very intense, paced historical novel about the struggles of emigres to survive and flourish in their beliefs in Paris during the lead up to and during WW2. Regrettably very few of the personages resonated with me. From the author’s well researched writing, it does not escape me of the delicate political backdrop and the brutalities of war. I found this a difficult read, particularly with so many players in the mix, and it required considerable concentration. The attraction of the Hotel Lutetia is undoubtedly the central focus for this eclectic group.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Hotel Exile by Jane Rogoyska is the history of a place, the Hotel Lutetia, on the west bank in Paris, before and during the Second World War and the lives of the people that passed through its doors. Sometimes histories of this period - though extremely well written, like this book is - can lose sight of the personal. The beauty of Rogoyska's work is that it doesn't - it brings the personal to vivid life. Sometimes this work of non-fiction reads like fine literary fiction, with interiority of character - we hear their voices, their thoughts, and this roots this work firmly in its time and place. This is a very well researched and written work which shines a light on the stories which might otherwise be forgotten.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A very interesting take on French history and the background of such a popular Parisian landmark, almost like a documentary. Hotel Lutetia remains standing over the years, but the various groups of people who have used it have had their lives changed in so many ways. I am often in Paris, and I don't think I'll ever come across this place without the stark reminder of its past.
The evocative writing brings you back to many years ago, vividly describing the tragic aspects of the story. It can be a bit heavy to read due to the somber feeling you get while going through some of the pages, but it remains interesting throughout. Well-researched and very artfully told.
The evocative writing brings you back to many years ago, vividly describing the tragic aspects of the story. It can be a bit heavy to read due to the somber feeling you get while going through some of the pages, but it remains interesting throughout. Well-researched and very artfully told.
December 7, 2025
A very interesting read. Well researched. and very interesting. Reads like a documentary but you can get a real feel for the lives of these real people. Glad I took the time to finish it.
Thank you Jane Rogoyska for collecting the information and writing about it. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy and Penguin Press UK for publishing. All the views given here are my own, and they are given freely.
Thank you Jane Rogoyska for collecting the information and writing about it. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy and Penguin Press UK for publishing. All the views given here are my own, and they are given freely.
November 25, 2025
I loved how informative and well written this book was, it read like a novel and was quite the page-turner! Will definitely be buying this book when it's released. A well documented and interesting read on the events leading up to WW2 in Europe, in particular the people who were in exile even before the war began.
January 9, 2026
I was intrigued by the title of this book and synopsis whilst it focuses on ww2 it talks about a particular hotel
and people’s lives there as they flee Germany. Unfortunately I found too many characters and I needed to concentrate when that character was mentioned again however the book overly an ok read
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
and people’s lives there as they flee Germany. Unfortunately I found too many characters and I needed to concentrate when that character was mentioned again however the book overly an ok read
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews