National Bestseller
David J. Langum, Sr. Prize for American Historical Fiction, Honorary Mention for 2015
The New York Times bestselling author of The Wednesday Sisters returns with a moving and powerfully dynamic World War II novel about two American journalists and an Englishman, who together race the Allies to Occupied Paris for the scoop of their lives.
Normandy, 1944. To cover the fighting in France, Jane, a reporter for the Nashville Banner, and Liv, an Associated Press photographer, have endured enormous danger and frustrating obstacles—including strict military regulations limiting what women correspondents can. Even so, Liv wants more.
Encouraged by her husband, the editor of a New York newspaper, she’s determined to be the first photographer to reach Paris with the Allies, and capture its freedom from the Nazis.
However, her Commanding Officer has other ideas about the role of women in the press corps. To fulfill her ambitions, Liv must go AWOL. She persuades Jane to join her, and the two women find a guardian angel in Fletcher, a British military photographer who reluctantly agrees to escort them. As they race for Paris across the perilous French countryside, Liv, Jane, and Fletcher forge an indelible emotional bond that will transform them and reverberate long after the war is over.
Based on daring, real-life female reporters on the front lines of history like Margaret Bourke-White, Lee Miller, and Martha Gellhorn—and with cameos by other famous faces of the time—The Race for Paris is an absorbing, atmospheric saga full of drama, adventure, and passion. Combining riveting storytelling with expert literary craftsmanship and thorough research, Meg Waite Clayton crafts a compelling, resonant read.
National Bestseller
David J. Langum, Sr. Prize for American Historical Fiction, Honorary Mention for 2015
Inspired by the extraordinary female journalists who were among the first to report the Allied liberation of Paris from the Nazis in 1944, The Race for Paris follows two war correspondents on their quest to document (and make) history. Jane is a young, single reporter who meets photographer Olivia, “Liv,” on assignment at a field hospital.
Unlike their male colleagues, Liv and Jane are constantly confronted by red tape and derision. Jane is resigned to making the most of her assignment, but Liv is determined to chase a bigger story. After failing to win over her commanding officer, she goes AWOL to Paris—and Jane, seizing the chance to make a name for herself, joins her.
Reluctantly accompanied by a male British military reporter, the two women scramble through the gunfire and carnage scarring the French countryside. Their journey is further complicated by emotional bonds, romantic tensions, and one woman’s secret—a secret with the power to end her career and, perhaps, her life.
"Clayton's gripping tale was inspired by the women writers and photographers who broke through bureaucratic and gender barriers to report from the front lines.... There's danger, secrets, and romance in the story, along with the underlying deep need of Jane, Liv, and Fletcher, to portray the truth about the war."
