The Paris Daughter

Juliette awakens with a feeling of foreboding that she attributes to a warning from Paul. Seemingly validating the apprehension, Elise enters her shop wishing to speak with Juliette. Juliette begrudgingly agrees since their history together means there’s nowhere Juliette could hide that Elise wouldn’t know about. Juliette is hostile but thaws enough to tell Elise of Mathilde’s final months with the Foulons and to inform her that although Paul and the boys are still here with Juliette, Mathilde is not. Elise is grateful and guilty and anguished over Mathilde’s supposed death, which upsets Juliette’s prior conviction that Elise was selfish in parting ways with Mathilde. Angry, Juliette berates Elise for abandoning her daughter and blames her for the deaths of Juliette’s family. When Elise leaves, upset and apologetic, Juliette throws up and finds Paul isn’t there to console her.

Lucie dreams of Paris and tells Tommy she wants to figure out why her mother hates her. Entering the gallery, she is met by Fitzgerald who only just discovered the truth of Bouet’s crimes. Bouet fled the city, leaving behind the guilt-stricken Fitzgerald who had no idea of the true provenance of the Rousselle sculptures he so admired. Lucie reassures him he’s not at fault, despite his prior misgivings about Bouet’s character, but Fitzgerald is nonetheless certain he’ll lose the gallery trying to repay Elise. Lucie offers to sell her own paintings to help with the debt, but their profits wouldn’t make a dent in the amount owed to Elise. He asks to see her paintings nonetheless and is deeply impressed, particularly with her mural over the walls and ceiling of the studio, and promises to see her art shown regardless of his own disgrace. Lucie promises to find a way to help.

She takes one of her paintings, depicting Juliette in the Parisian rain surrounded by the ghosts of her dead family, and takes it to Juliette. Juliette is shattered in the aftermath of Elise’s visit but seems almost entranced by the painting, recognizing the figures. She throws incoherent accusations at Lucie and forbids her from meeting with Elise, but Lucie tells her she is her own person and that neither Mathilde nor Elise are to blame for the loss of their family. Juliette tells her to leave and sits staring at the painting alone.

Elise visits the Levys’ apartment and is consoled by the now grown Suzanne, who tells her Juliette was wrong to call her a bad mother. Ruth and George return, and the four pass the third night of Hanukkah together. The following morning, she returns to the gallery determined to demand compensation from Bouet but is instead met by Fitzgerald. He explains the situation and is deeply apologetic for his unknowing role in the affair, promising to make amends. With no desire to ruin a fellow artist, Elise simply requests she be allowed to use one of the upstairs studios for the duration of her stay. Fitzgerald agrees, but as he shows her to her studio she spots two of Lucie’s paintings and recognizes the Parisian streets as well as the figures of Lucie and Mathilde. She realizes Lucie too must be struggling with the trauma of the war and determines to talk with her to help her through it. When she explains this to Fitzgerald, he offers to take her straight away to meet Lucie at Tommy’s Christmas tree lot.

This chapter provides a detailed account of the passenger jet that was blown off course and collided disastrously with another airplane, eventually crashing in Brooklyn and claiming over a hundred lives. This unforeseeable tragedy is likened to the misplaced bomb drop that destroyed La Librairie des Rêves so far from its target.

Juliette wakes up with a feeling of dread similar to the one she dismissed on the morning of the bombing in Paris. She is incensed to learn from Arthur that Lucie is out with Tommy even though Juliette forbade her to see him. Arthur says it’s natural for Lucie to be growing up and scolds Juliette for neglecting the future in favor of holding onto the past. Juliette tells Arthur about her meeting with Elise and her fears that Elise might track down Lucie. Although Arthur is aghast to learn of Juliette’s cruel words to Elise, he tells her where to find Lucie. As she rushes to Lucie, Juliette hears Paul’s voice telling her over and over again she has to tell Lucie the truth. She thinks back over Lucie’s childhood, and her willful propensity for art, and bemoans that Ruth’s visit to the bookshop caused everything to unravel. She arrives at the Christmas tree lot where Tommy works and is shocked to find Elise and Fitzgerald already there. Lucie notices them, calls out “Maman”, and is interrupted by the plane crashing.

Lucie accompanies Tommy to the Christmas tree lot, worrying over the fate of the gallery. She decides that since Arthur is wealthy and seems often to confuse money with love, she will ask him to financially support the gallery on her behalf. At the lot, Lucie is surprised to see Juliette arriving with Fitzgerald and Elise, the latter of whom she recognizes from her dreams.

Suddenly, there are explosions and screams as the plane crashes. A passerby tries to pull Lucie from the street, but she instinctively resists and all at once remembers her life in Paris and the bombing. In a flashback, Lucie, really Mathilde, wakes up in the ruins of the original La Librairie des Rêves in Paris and is pulled from the ruins by Juliette. Juliette calls her the wrong name, and in her fear and confusion, Mathilde does not correct her. When France is liberated months later, Mathilde tells Juliette she is not Lucie but in fact Mathilde, but Juliette refuses to accept this and sends her to bed without supper. Once they arrive in America, Juliette begins to tell Mathilde over and over that she really is Lucie Foulon and that her prior memories are just stories, until eventually “Lucie” believes her and forgets ever being Mathilde.

Remembering this, “Lucie” now knows the truth of her identity.

There are 127 confirmed deaths from the crash, and two people are still unaccounted for, including “Lucie.” Juliette was gravely injured and taken away in an ambulance, which Ruth is tracking down. Elise and Fitzgerald spend all day searching for Lucie in the rubble. Elise recognized Lucie from the carvings she made of what she imagined Mathilde would look like as an adult. She shows the carving in her hotel room to Fitzgerald, who also recognizes it as Lucie and then realizes Lucie and Elise look very similar. He takes Elise to see Lucie’s studio in search of further confirmation of the implied conclusion that Lucie may in fact be Mathilde. Elise recognizes the mural as Lucie’s version of the one she painted in Paris, down to the exact same phrase, “Under these stars, fate will guide you home.” Lucie appears in the doorway and says to Elise that Juliette told her Elise was dead. She says she thinks she’s actually Mathilde, which Elise confirms.

Juliette is gravely injured and only half-conscious in a hospital bed. Ruth and Arthur visit her, as do Elise and Mathilde. Juliette comes to terms with the fact that she was lying to herself and to Mathilde all these years, concealing and suppressing Mathilde’s true identity. Although Juliette is cognizant of her own culpability, Elise thanks her for taking care of Mathilde in her absence and promises to take care of Mathilde herself from now on. Juliette sees a vision of her actual daughter Lucie as she was on the day of the bombing and calls to her, apologizing. Elise and Mathilde weep over Juliette’s bed, believing Juliette is speaking to them. Lucie tells Juliette the rest of their family is waiting for her, and Juliette follows her into the light.