Really enjoyed the first part of the novel as Laure waited on the platform for her lover. This first section encouraged a sense of excitement and danger with the promise of finding out more about living under communism and drew me in. The extract then jumped to modern day Paris which I felt became mundane and lacking the intrigue of the opening. The prose is well written and descriptive and one would hope as the novel developed so would the plot regaining its impetus and fulfilling the promise of the beginning of the book.