A Paris Apartment

I’ll admit: I rolled my eyes at first. *Another* book about a mysterious Parisian apartment? But *A Paris Apartment* disarmed me within chapters, largely thanks to Erin Moon’s narration, which turns April Vaught—a woman who’d rather appraise a chair than feel anything—into a compellingly prickly guide. Moon’s dry humor lands perfectly when April scoffs at her boss’s sentimentality (“*It’s just a room full of junk*”), but it’s Saskia Maarleveld who steals the show as Martine. Her voice is all honeyed menace, the kind of performance that makes you lean in when she describes seducing a duke or outmaneuvering a rival. The dual narration could’ve felt jarring, but the producers nailed the transitions, using a breath of silence or a faint street-noise fade to signal time jumps. The story’s pacing, however, is uneven. The modern-day sections drag when April’s personal life intrudes (her ex’s texts feel like filler), while Martine’s chapters gallop ahead with scandalous momentum. I wanted more of the auction-house politics—Gable’s research on Sotheby’s is fascinating but underused—and less of April’s predictable romantic subplot. Still, the audiobook’s production shines in small ways: the echo when April first steps into the empty apartment, the way Martine’s letters sound like they’re being read from brittle paper. It’s not a flawless listen, but it’s a *transportive* one, especially if you’ve ever wondered what secrets your own walls might hold. Just don’t expect April’s emotional arc to match the luster of Martine’s." "tags": [ "dual-timeline historical fiction