After years of abject humiliation and oppression Paris, The City of Light, was liberated from the Germans by the Allies in August,1944. Patrick Bishop’s latest stand out narrative of WW2 reveals the politics, the intrigues, the suffering and hardships, the treacheries and constant dangers of those dramatic four years. Bishop’s revealing insights cover many diverse characters all with conflicting ambitions and loyalties. General Charles de Gaulle determined to be the liberator of France and ultimately its leader, Maurice Chevalier twixt loyalty to France and subservience to the occupiers, Pablo Picasso ruthlessly trying to safeguard his wealth, the varied infighting leaders of the heroic Resistance all with an eye on eventual political status, the two faced von Cholitz, Commandant of the city juggling the wrath of Hitler with the potential vengeance of the liberators, the philandering Ernest Hemingway between striving to produce the ultimate novel yet craving ‘ war hero’ status, Marshal Petain now leader of Vichy France and erasing the respect and loyalty gained in WW1. These and many more, not least the stoic people of Paris all combine to a revealing and suspenseful read. A great contribution to the stoicism of the human spirit.