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.
Genre: Historical
* 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.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"A magnificent book with prose that is lush, seductive, and velvet-rich. This big, bold, deep, satisfying literary adventure is a stunning tour-de-force." - Adrienne Brodeur
"From its very first moment, Skylark held me so close it felt like we shared a heartbeat. Intimate and sweeping, this novel celebrates the rare kind of bravery that resounds for centuries through the streets of our beloved cities and in our bleakest times of war and fear. I'm convinced no one in the world can write like Paula McLain. Vital and prescient, she is absolutely one of the finest writers of our age." - Amy Jo Burns
"Paula McLain returns to Paris, the setting of her most celebrated novel, to intertwine two eras of upheaval with masterful precision. Seductive, subversive, and impossible to put down, Skylark shines a light into the darkest corners of history, revealing the enduring strength of the human spirit." - Christina Baker Kline
"A resounding elegy of love, courage, and defiance. Paula McLain melds two timelines and one city into the kind of story you think about long after you've finished reading. Mysterious and haunting and timeless. I loved it." - Ariel Lawhon
"Paula McLain is a story alchemist. In Skylark, she saturates our imaginations with the colorful threads of two distinct timelines. Artfully crafted and poetically rendered, this is the kind of historical fiction I live for - stories where the past acts as a mirror for the modern milieu." - Sarah McCoy
"Above all, Skylark is the gift of a brilliant storyteller. . . If she were not a superb novelist, McLain most surely would be a painter - what brilliant colors, images, and textures. Toward the end, I was holding my breath - the stunning ending will resonate long after the book is closed." - Frances Mayes
"An enthralling plunge into deep layers of Paris history, both beautifully written and breathtakingly suspenseful. I could not put it down." - Helen Simonson
"From its very first moment, Skylark held me so close it felt like we shared a heartbeat. Intimate and sweeping, this novel celebrates the rare kind of bravery that resounds for centuries through the streets of our beloved cities and in our bleakest times of war and fear. I'm convinced no one in the world can write like Paula McLain. Vital and prescient, she is absolutely one of the finest writers of our age." - Amy Jo Burns
"Paula McLain returns to Paris, the setting of her most celebrated novel, to intertwine two eras of upheaval with masterful precision. Seductive, subversive, and impossible to put down, Skylark shines a light into the darkest corners of history, revealing the enduring strength of the human spirit." - Christina Baker Kline
"A resounding elegy of love, courage, and defiance. Paula McLain melds two timelines and one city into the kind of story you think about long after you've finished reading. Mysterious and haunting and timeless. I loved it." - Ariel Lawhon
"Paula McLain is a story alchemist. In Skylark, she saturates our imaginations with the colorful threads of two distinct timelines. Artfully crafted and poetically rendered, this is the kind of historical fiction I live for - stories where the past acts as a mirror for the modern milieu." - Sarah McCoy
"Above all, Skylark is the gift of a brilliant storyteller. . . If she were not a superb novelist, McLain most surely would be a painter - what brilliant colors, images, and textures. Toward the end, I was holding my breath - the stunning ending will resonate long after the book is closed." - Frances Mayes
"An enthralling plunge into deep layers of Paris history, both beautifully written and breathtakingly suspenseful. I could not put it down." - Helen Simonson
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Paula McLain's Skylark