Skylark BOOK REVIEW

• Date Published:
  January, 2026
• Length:
  464 pages—Listening Time: 13 hours 50 minutes
• Genre:
  Fiction, Historical Fiction
• Setting:
  Dual timeline: 1664 and 1939-1942, Paris, France
• Awards
  GMA Book Club Pick January 2026; Indie Next Pick January 202); Best Book of January 2026 by PEOPLE: Spotify Editors’ Pick Audiobook January 2026
• Languages:
  English
• Sensitive Aspects:
  Graphic death, miscarriage, violence, forced medical procedures, forced institutionalization, abuse and cruelty in an asylum setting, antisemitism, Nazi persecution and murder of Jewish people, war crimes, executions, torture, extreme misogyny and patriarchal oppression, wrongful imprisonment, persecution of immigrants, mental illness and psychiatric abuse, coercion and threats of sexual violence, sexual content, traumatic grief and loss, intense scenes of fear and peril during war, systemic injustice and discrimination against women, religious and ethnic persecution
• Movie:
  As of May 2026, Skylark has not been adapted into a movie.
• Recommended for Book Club:
  Yes

Historical fiction doesn’t just tell us what happened—it dares us to feel it. Through the quiet rustle of petticoats in a war-torn parlor or the echo of footsteps on ancient cobblestones, it collapses centuries into something immediate, intimate, and alive. It becomes a bridge between then and now, revealing how the struggles of the past continue to shape our identities, beliefs, and choices. The best historical novels don't just transport you to another time; they hand you a lens you didn't know you needed.

That's precisely what happened to me with Skylark by Paula McLain.

I picked this one up expecting a beautifully written story (McLain always delivers that), but I wasn't prepared for how much I'd actually learn. Not in a dry, textbook kind of way. In a "wait, I have to tell someone about this book right now" kind of way. Did you know there's an entire network of tunnels snaking beneath Paris—centuries old, carved out and forgotten and full of stories? I didn't. Not really. Not until McLain made me feel like I was walking through them myself, breathing the damp stone air.

And that wasn't even the half of it. I found myself genuinely fascinated by the craft of fabric dyeing and the guilds that controlled it in 17th-century France—the labor, the artistry, the social weight of color in a world where what you wore announced exactly who you were. Then there's the stonemasonry, the kind of painstaking, generational skill that built cathedrals we still gasp at today. McLain weaves all of it into the story so naturally that the history never feels like homework. It feels like discovery.

That's the mark of a truly great historical novelist, and McLain earns that title here.

Skylark is a dual-timeline historical novel set primarily in Paris, one thread unfolding in 1664 and the other on the eve of World War II. Both stories circle around questions of freedom, loyalty, and how far a person will go to protect the people they love, all against the backdrop of a city divided between light above and darkness below.

In 1664, we follow Alouette Voland, the daughter of a master dyer at the famed Gobelin Tapestry Works. She grows up in a world where color is power, tightly controlled by guilds and the elite, and she secretly dreams of creating her own groundbreaking dyes instead of being confined to the work deemed acceptable for a woman. When her father is accused of wrongdoing and unjustly imprisoned, Alouette’s attempt to intervene pulls her into danger and ultimately leads to her confinement in the Salpêtrière asylum, a brutal institution for “undesirable” women. Within its walls, she forges fragile alliances and begins to glimpse both the risks and possibilities of resisting the system that holds her.

The second timeline begins in 1939 with Kristof Larson, a Dutch medical student starting his psychiatric residency in Paris. He boards on the Rue de Gobelins, where he befriends his neighbors, a Jewish family who fled persecution in Poland and are trying to build a quieter life. As Nazi power tightens around the city, Kristof finds himself caught between his professional responsibilities at the hospital and the growing danger his neighbors face, forcing him to confront what it means to act—or stay silent—in perilous times.

Threaded through both narratives is Paris’s vast underground network of quarries and tunnels, a hidden city beneath the streets that becomes a crucial part of each character’s journey. These subterranean passages mirror the secret lives, moral choices, and unseen acts of courage happening out of sight of official history, eventually revealing how Alouette’s and Kristof’s separate stories connect across the centuries.

If you’re a Readers With Wrinkles regular, Skylark is absolutely in your wheelhouse—especially if the words “historical fiction” and “Paris” make your heart sit up a little straighter. This one is a must-read for you.

Here’s why I think you should pick it up:

You love historical fiction that actually teaches you something

If you like to close a book feeling smarter than when you opened it, Skylark delivers. You’ll come away knowing more about the tunnels beneath Paris, 17th-century fabric dyeing, and stonemasonry—without ever feeling like you cracked a textbook.

Paris is your happy place, in any century

If you enjoy wandering Paris on the page, this story takes you both above and below ground. You get streets and salons, but also the eerie, fascinating underbelly of the city most tourists never see.

You appreciate stories that braid timelines together

If you enjoy that satisfying, “ohhh, that’s how it connects” feeling, the dual timelines here—17th-century Paris and the WWII era—scratch that itch in a big way.

You like characters who have some fight in them

If you prefer your protagonists resilient, complex, and a little stubborn, you’ll find plenty to root for here. These are people pushed into impossible situations who still manage to carve out moments of courage.

You enjoy rich, sensory detail

If you love novels where you can almost smell the dye vats, feel the roughness of stone, or sense the chill of underground tunnels, Skylark gives you that deeply textured reading experience.

You want stories that echo into the present

If you like historical fiction that quietly nudges you to think about power, injustice, resistance, and who gets written into history, this one will give you plenty to mull over long after you finish.

You trust an 8-star recommendation

If you follow my ratings, you know I don’t hand out high scores lightly. An 8-star book is one I’m comfortable nudging you toward with a little extra emphasis: this is worth your reading time.

You’re always hunting for your next book club pick

If you read with friends (or mentally “book club” by yourself), Skylark offers so much to discuss—ethics, survival, faith, art, gender, class, and of course, that unforgettable setting.

Get Paula McLain Books

Paula McLain writes emotionally rich, impeccably researched historical novels that pull you so deeply into the lives of complicated, resilient women that you forget where the history ends and your own heart begins.

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Here are some excellent picks similar to Skylark—rich history, layered characters, and plenty of Paris (or Paris-adjacent vibes) where it fits.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
McLain’s breakout novel follows Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, as she navigates love, betrayal, and artistic ambition in 1920s Paris, capturing the emotional cost of being the quiet partner to a man determined to be legendary.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
This one trades Parisian tunnels for Kenyan skies, telling the story of real-life aviator and horse trainer Beryl Markham as she fights convention, heartbreak, and her own restlessness in British East Africa; it's perfect if you love resilient women pushing against rigid social structures.

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain
Set during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, this novel centers on journalist Martha Gellhorn and her tempestuous relationship with Hemingway, offering another intimate look at a fiercely independent woman trying to balance her own calling with the gravitational pull of a famous man.

When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
While more contemporary and suspense-leaning, this book follows a missing persons detective retreating to her Northern California hometown, where past and present cases intertwine. It's a good match if you enjoy McLain’s emotional depth and interest in trauma, survival, and found family.

Canticle by Janet Rich-Edwards
Spanning centuries, this novel explores the life of a 13th‑century anchoress whose story reverberates into the present, making it a great fit if you loved Skylark’s dual timelines, spiritual questions, and the way buried lives echo across history.

Where the False Gods Dwell by Denny S. Bryce
Set in the 1930s Caribbean with a backdrop of anthropology, dance, and complicated marriages, this novel blends meticulous research with emotional stakes, ideal for readers who enjoy richly textured historical worlds and women negotiating power in constrained roles.

Isola by Allegra Goodman
Isola reimagines the true story of Marguerite de la Rocque, a 16th‑century French noblewoman who is abandoned on a remote Canadian island and forced to fend for herself against brutal weather, hunger, and isolation. Instead of treating her as a footnote in a male explorer’s tale, the novel centers her inner life—her fear, ingenuity, stubborn will to live, and the love and choices that led to her exile—making it a powerful match for Skylark readers who are drawn to overlooked women in history, survival against impossible odds, and richly imagined stories that grow out of real events. Read my full review here.

Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff
Set across dual timelines in wartime Paris, Last Twilight in Paris follows women whose lives are reshaped by occupation, resistance, and impossible choices, offering that same blend of emotional stakes, rich historical detail, and moral gray areas that makes Skylark so absorbing. It’s especially appealing if you love stories where Paris itself feels like a character and where ordinary people are pushed into extraordinary acts of courage.