Paris, 7 A.M.

By: Liza Wieland

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

“A marvel of lost innocence” (O, The Oprah Magazine) that reimagines three life-changing weeks poet Elizabeth Bishop spent in Paris amid the imminent threat of World War II. 

June 1937. Elizabeth Bishop, still only a young woman and not yet one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, arrives in France with her college roommates. They are in search of an escape, and inspiration, far from the protective world of Vassar College where they were expected to find an impressive husband and a quiet life. But the world is changing, and as they explore the City of Lights, the larger threats of fascism and occupation are looming. There, they meet a community of upper-crust expatriates who not only bring them along on a life-changing adventure, but also into an underground world of rebellion that will quietly alter the course of Elizabeth’s life forever. 

Sweeping and stirring, Paris, 7 A.M. imagines 1937 - the only year Elizabeth, a meticulous keeper of journals - didn’t fully chronicle - in vivid detail and brings us from Paris to Normandy where Elizabeth becomes involved with a group rescuing Jewish “orphans” and delivering them to convents where they will be baptized as Catholics and saved from the impending horror their parents will face. Both poignant and captivating, Paris, 7 A.M. is an “achingly introspective marvel of lost innocence” (O, The Oprah Magazine) and a beautifully rendered take on the formative years of one of America’s most celebrated female poets. 

©2019 Liza Wieland (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Mixed experience

A very well written book. I was not aware of Elizabeth Bishop or her work before reading this book. The end was a bit odd and out of character for the format of the rest of the book. For me, that actually took away from the story. I wish the book would have ended with the separation.