Content Warning: This section of the guide deals with themes related to the Nazi occupation of Paris during WWII, child loss, the Holocaust, and war and its traumatic effects.

This theme is key to both the novel’s plot and the depiction of the main characters. The Paris Daughter is set during the Second World War (WWII), a time when the patriarchal structure of Western society saw the majority of women confined to domestic roles as wives and mothers. It is natural then that familial duties would be central to the identities and lives of the novel’s two female protagonists. Particular focus is placed on the relationships between mothers and their children, and the conflicts that arise when love and duty clash. The opening quote of the novel, situated before even the start of Chapter 1, establishes the primacy and omnipresence of the theme: “Motherhood: All love begins and ends there” (1, 6).

Elise LeClair and Juliette Foulon are both defined in large part by their identity as mothers. A preoccupation with the love and sense of duty they feel towards their children is central to both of their perspectives of events. Furthermore, the majority of their decisions and reactions to plot events are dictated or at least influenced by maternal love and duty.