The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre by Natasha Lester

Title: The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre

Author: Natasha Lester

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: 28^th September 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 430

Price: $32.99

Synopsis: Lavish and compelling, this is the story of a young woman trying to forget her devastating part in the war

1943. After spearheading several successful advertising campaigns in New York, PR wizard Alix St Pierre comes to the attention of the US government and finds herself recruited into a fledgling intelligence organisation.

Enlisted as a spy, Alix is sent to Europe where she is tasked with getting close to a Nazi who might be willing to help the Allied forces – but there’s also the chance he might be a double agent.

1946. Following the war, Alix moves to Paris to run the Service de la Presse for the yet-to-be-launched House of Christian Dior. But when a figure from the war reappears and threatens to destroy her future, Alix realises that only she can right the wrongs of the past and bring him to justice.

This completely enthralling story takes readers from the dangerous, intrigue-filled rooms in Switzerland where elites of both sides mingled and schemed during the war, to the glamorous halls of the House of Dior in the golden age of French fashion and journalism.

~*~

Alix St Pierre, Natasha Lester’s new novel, is set between 1943 and 1947, and is divided into seven parts, with each part alternating between dealing with the war time and the post war stories. In 1943, Alix’s life is simple – she’s working in public relations in New York when she’s recruited into a new spy agency – and from there she is sent to Europe. When she gets there, she has to get close to a Nazi. The rumour is he is willing to help the Allies – yet Alix doesn’t trust him completely – but she has to, right? Alix is caught in a dangerous game that could endanger those she works with and cares for.

Four years later, in 1947, with the war over, Alix has moved to Paris to begin a new career – and a new life. She’s working for the Service de la Presse to help launch House of Dior. Her life and her job come under threat when someone from the war re-emerges and draws her back into a cat and mouse game, playing on her guilt, triggering memories and bringing about revelations that could change Alix for the rest of her life.

Unlike her previous books, Natasha has left Alix’s story in the forties – she doesn’t flick between the 1940s and the future – and I think this was more effective, because the story was all about Alix and her three lives – in PR, as a spy, and finally, running a press service for a fashion house, and how each iteration of her life, each stage of the story reveals something about Alix. We didn’t need a descendant to tell their discovery story. As we weave in and out of war and peace, Alix’s lives begin to collide as figures from the past emerge and threats from a distant yet very real threat, La Voce, appears. I felt all of Alix’s anxieties grow as she sifted through what she knew and tracked down people from the past to help sort things out. I loved the way Alix’s past was revealed slowly throughout the book, alluding to how she came to be who she was by the time we meet her in the 1940s.

As a character, I could see that Alix had shades of grey about her morality, yet she was the kind of character whose flaws were on show as well, and the kind of character who allowed herself to fight with her emotions. She stood out but also blended in and fought with what she had done and seen as she tried to reconcile it with her possible futures. I loved that she was able to question herself and to work out where she stood, because she provided a foil to the villain of the book whose role was woven cleverly throughout the story. It is a story of spies, war, identity, and finding your way in life after something that changes you in ways that you can never come back from – and Alix is a character who had been through many changes throughout her life, who had had her identity tinkered with for years. I also loved a few cameos from characters in previous books – it helps link Natasha’s universe in interesting ways!

This is another wonderful, evocative, and thrilling story by Natasha Lester, where the present tense in the war days gives an immediacy to the story, whilst the past tense in 1947 is almost contemplative, but still feels like you’re a little on edge.  However, the story is so enthralling, that I felt I had to keep reading to find out what happened to everyone and how Alix resolved everything. I hope people love this one.