The Ambassador's Daughter

March 4, 2013
In Jenoffâs eloquent follow-up to The Diplomatâs Wife, conflicted Margot accompanies her German diplomat father to Paris for the treaty negotiations following WWI. Traveling to England and then France, Margot deliberately delays the inevitable return to Berlin and avoids the impending union with her injured fiancé Stefan. Guilty about abandoning their commitment, Margot feels detached from the life sheâs expected to lead, shielding herself "from the truth that inevitably awaits." Though at first an outsider in Paris and bored with the social functions she must attend, her world changes when she meets Krysiaââa pianist from Poland with radical political affiliations, an ethereal appearance, and an affinity for forthright speechââand then Georg, the striking but troubled German naval officer with "strong features, seemingly etched from granite." The two share an immediate and undeniable attraction, but with new introductions come new afflictions. Margot quickly becomes entangled in a political fiasco as well as a fairly predictable love triangle, but her indecisive character will keep the reader guessing as to the end result. A tale of surprise betrayals, unquenchable desire, and a necessary awakening, Jenoffâs thorough and elaborate descriptions of character and setting makes for a satisfying period romance.

January 1, 2013
Fans of Kate Morton and Alyson Richman should reach for popular Jenoff's latest historical romance. Naive German national Margot Rosenthal arrives in 1919 Paris prepared to play the dutiful daughter to her sweetly absentminded diplomat father as he attends a peace conference. Engaged to Stefan, a soldier wounded in the war, Margot holds fast to the flame of his love while trying to enjoy some brief freedoms before marriage. Instead, she discovers a Paris vibrant with people, parties, and unexpected complications as the simple reality she thought she knew morphs into a murkier place of secrets, betrayal, cunning, and lies. She meets intriguing musician Krysia Smok, a Polish woman who instantly takes Margot under her wing and introduces her to a less-sheltered worldview. Yet it's when Margot meets Georg, a German naval officer, that her heart fiercely demands a life she hadn't realized she was longing for. Framing Margot's personal story with the larger scope of the early twentieth-century world, Jenoff (The Kommandant's Girl, 2007) ably plumbs the concepts of courage, faith, and love against a dramatic backdrop.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)