Skylark
From the NYT-bestselling author of The Paris Wife
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 5 Feb 2026
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- €9.49
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- Pre-Order
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- €9.49
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of The Paris Wife comes an irresistible story of love, courage and resistance on the streets of Paris – and in the secret network of tunnels that lies beneath
* A Good Morning America Book Club pick for January 2026! *
1664: Alouette Voland is the daughter of a master dyer at Paris' famed Gobelins Tapestry Works. With a gift for her craft and a drive to prove she is as good as the male dyers controlling the industry, Alouette dreams of creating her own masterpiece. But her boldness will put everyone she loves at risk.
1939: Kristof Larson is starting his medical residency in the same Parisian neighbourhood once dominated by the tapestry works. The shadows of his past have left him determined to improve conditions for the patients of the infamous Salpetrière asylum. But as war breaks out across Europe and Nazi forces descend on Paris, he could lose his career – and his life.
Alouette and Kristof are both ambitious, idealistic and brave. But faced with authorities who will do anything to silence them, the secret web of tunnels lying beneath the shimmering streets of Paris might be their only hope of survival.
Skylark is a spellbinding story about defiance and love that beautifully uncovers the hidden history of the City of Light.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Winding through the vast network of tunnels below Paris, McLain's riveting latest (after When the Stars Go Dark) combines the stories of a 17th-century prison break and a WWII physician's role in the French Resistance. In 1664, Alouette Voland falls in love with Étienne Duchamp, a mason who is working on expanding the city's catacombs. But their relationship stalls when Alouette's efforts to free her wrongfully imprisoned father land her in Salpêtrière asylum. After hatching an escape plan, Alouette and some of her fellow prisoners descend into the tunnels below the asylum. In a parallel narrative, psychiatrist Kristof Larsen bonds with his Jewish neighbors during the German occupation when he helps with the birth of their youngest child. After the family is arrested by the Nazis and their teenage daughter, Sasha, is freed, Kristof helps Sasha and other Jewish teenagers navigate the tunnels to get away from the Germans. McLain expertly juxtaposes the courageous actions of both Alouette and Kristof as they seek freedom for themselves and others and embrace the challenges and dangers of the subterranean maze. Fans of stirring historicals won't want to miss this.
