Hey you guys, it’s been a while. I do apologize for my absence. I am hoping to make 2025 a more consistent year (that’s my word for the year).

I finished my first book of the year on the 17^th. I enjoyed reading The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor.

Brief Summary

It’s an intriguing book. A short summary without any spoilers: Alice is a teenage girl, and her grandmother, Chloe, recently passed away and left Alice an apartment in Paris. Alice and her parents go to Paris to check it out. Her mom is in a depressive bout, but no one speaks about it because her family tends to ignore issues, instead of addressing them outright. At the apartment, they find pictures and realize the grandmother had a sister she never mentioned. This upsets the mom, causing her to express how she feels she never knew her mom and the family decides to leave, but Alice makes plans to come back. Alice comes back and finds her grandaunt’s diary and a photo of her with Nazis (identified by the swastikas on their armbands). Throughout the story she asks Paul, a teenage guy she met in a café, to help her out and come along with her adventure of finding out about her aunt Adalyn. She eventually comes across Luc, an elder man who was in love with Adalyn and a part of the same resistance group as her, who can tell the full story of Adalyn and give Alice the answers she is looking for about her family. Overall, I do recommend it. If you have read it, let me know your thoughts.

Stand Outs

The hardest part of Adalyn’s resistance work was keeping it a secret. It’s one thing to know your work is dangerous and keeping it secret to protect your family, but when your family doesn’t know and makes their own harsh judgements about you based on their assumptions from who you are hanging with, how do you continue to keep it a secret without wanting to defend yourself? How do you continue to go on when your own sister refuses to speak to you because she thinks you’re a traitor? While I understand it was for Chloe’s protection, to keep it from everyone must have been such an isolating experience compounded by the paranoia of being found out for spying.

One quote from Adalyn has yet to leave me,

“Where do you draw the line between doing what is right and doing what you must to survive?”

I think it is easy to look back on history and make assertions about what we would have done when there is no imminent danger to us. However, when the powers that be are doing things that we know are wrong, and doing what is right could lead to imprisonment, torture, and possibly death, will we continue to stand for what we believe is right? Even in today’s time, we are noticing people spread hateful rhetoric and not only do the platforms they use refuse to push back on it, when you do speak up, you are met with harassment and doxing. While I know what is right and I continue to do what I can using my voice and the money I can spare to support the movements, but when it’s a crucial time for action, would I be willing to put myself in danger? Would I be willing to risk my life for my beliefs and values? I would like to think no matter the outside influence, I would feel compelled to do what is right. However, it’s not an easy question to answer, especially without the true possibility of danger.