My huge thanks to the lovely publicists at Orion for sending me a copy of The Paris Affair by Anton du Beke in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

(And I might just be stalking Anton to sign my copy on a cruise trip later in the spring!)

Already available in other formats, The Paris Affair will be released in paperback on 1st February 2024 and is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Paris Affair

March 1941. As the war rages on, the Buckingham Hotel has become a microcosm of the world. Its ballroom and restaurant are peopled with exiled royal families, politicians and dignitaries, but the beating heart of the Buckingham remains its hardworking, talented staff.

With the heroic Raymond de Guise away fighting in North Africa, his beloved wife Nancy must balance her new position in life- as Head of Housekeeping at the Buckingham, but also as a new mother to their child.

And all the while, mysterious new figures are beginning to take centre stage: a secretive new bandleader from across the Atlantic, an unknown thief pilfering luxury goods from the Buckingham’s larders, and a charismatic ghost from Raymond’s past, stirring up old memories from his time on the circuit in 1920s Paris.

As tensions flare and dark secrets rise to the surface, it’s all the Buckingham staff can do to retain their trademark elegance and poise…

My Review of The Paris Affair

The Buckingham Hotel is surviving the war. 

Not having read the previous books in this series it took me a while to familiarise myself with the various characters in The Paris Affair, their circumstances and their relationships with one another. If I’m brutally honest I was unsure if I would actually enjoy the story because there seemed so many people to meet. 

I needn’t have worried. The plot is certainly multi-faceted and layered with a large cast of characters that initially felt daunting, but with every page turned I was drawn into the narrative and by the end of The Paris Affair I found it had had quite an emotional impact, particularly because of Raymond and Annie. Annie is an important character in introducing light relief and humour as well as anxiety and realism. However, it was Nancy who felt most relatable to me, because she is a woman doing her best in adverse circumstances with a universality to her character I found pragmatic, endearing and relatable. 

There’s so much to absorb the reader, with real events and people introduced into Anton du Beke’s story to give it a feeling of authenticity, and the excitement and danger build convincingly throughout so that the denouement made my heart beat rather faster. There are some profound themes in The Paris Affair as well as an entertaining plot. National security, war, betrayal, duty, organised crime, identity and so on all swirl through the pages making for an intriguing read.

That said, with famous faces, glamorous evenings and a hedonistic atmosphere in the Buckingham ballroom presented so clearly through evocative and vivid descriptions, what works so well here is the prosaic, the ordinary. In The Paris Affair Anton du Beke explores how good people can do bad things but for positive reasons, and how family, friendship, support and loyalty can drive people apart as well as bring them together, so that there is much to ponder whilst enjoying the story. I loved the concept that whilst war rages and dreadful things are happening in the world, there are small comforts to be had at home. This is a message not just balancing the events in this narrative, but one much needed in today’s real world.

I thought the dance and musical aspects were wonderful, and very much what I would expect from this author, creating a sense of golden age glamour that is incredibly vivid. Having begun The Paris Affair slightly bewildered and a bit daunted by all the characters, I finished this smashing read feeling hugely engaged and entertained and believing it is crying out for a Sunday night television series. Now, having so enjoyed this story, all I need to do is read the other books in the series because I want to know more about the warm, realistic folk of the Buckingham Hotel.

About Anton du Beke

Anton Du Beke – the King of Ballroom, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ royalty, and household name – is one of this generation’s all-round entertainers. In 2018, he realised his boyhood ambition and published the first in a series of bestselling novels set in the 1930s world of the exclusive Mayfair hotel, The Buckingham.

A consummate storyteller adept at captivating audiences, he is now captivating readers as he whisks them away to worlds of dance, intrigue, high society and scandal… bringing the golden age of dance to life, page by page.

As Strictly’s longest running professional dancer, and now Judge, Anton is the perfect author to lead the reader to the dancefloor as never before.

For further information, visit Anton’s website, and find him on Twitter/X @TheAntonDuBeke and Facebook. You’ll also find Anton on Instagram.