From the international bestselling author of Sarah’s Key and A Secret Kept comes the absorbing new novel about one woman's resistance during the age that shook Paris.

Paris, 1869. Houses are being razed, whole neighbourhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently transform Paris into a modern city.

In the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.

Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her late husband. And as Rose delves into her memories, she reveals the secrets held within the walls of her beloved house.