The Room on Rue Amélie

The Room on Rue Amélie (2018) is a historical fiction novel by American author Kristin Harmel. The novel follows the experiences of Ruby Henderson, an American immigrant in Paris, during World War II. Ruby eventually becomes involved in the French Resistance and forms a close friendship with Charlotte, whose Jewish identity leaves her vulnerable to persecution. Both women navigate the risks of resistance and the nature of love in a time of war. The novel explores such themes as The Impact of Everyday Heroism, The Nature of Love During a Crisis, and The Experience of Identity and Coming-of-Age. Other works by Harmel include The Book of Lost Names (2020), The Forest of Vanishing Stars (2021), and The Paris Daughter (2022).

This study guide uses the 2018 large print edition from Gallery Books.

Content Warning: This guide describes and discusses the source text’s depictions of antisemitism, concentration camps, wartime violence, and pregnancy loss.

Plot Summary

In 1938, Ruby Henderson meets Marcel Benoit at a cafe and falls in love. They get married shortly afterward, and Ruby moves to Paris with him. However, the coming war comes between them, and Marcel becomes derisive and dismissive toward her. Ruby also suffers a pregnancy loss that drives them even further apart. Ruby befriends her neighbor, a young Jewish girl named Charlotte. Charlotte is stigmatized due to her religious heritage, while Ruby feels alienated due to being an American outsider; they bond over their shared inner conflicts.

One day, a wounded pilot shows up at Ruby’s door. Ruby realizes her husband is working for a subversive resistance network that helps fallen pilots return to England so they can rejoin the war effort. Ruby confronts Marcel with her knowledge and convinces him to let her help. Just as Ruby and Marcel begin to repair their marriage, Marcel is killed for his involvement in the network. Ruby carries on their work alone.

Meanwhile, a new pilot named Thomas is learning how to fly in the Royal Air Force. He’s shot down and forced to make his way through the French countryside, eventually landing at Ruby’s door. She cares for him until the network can pick him up, and they fall in love. After he leaves, matters escalate when Charlotte’s parents are arrested.

Ruby hides Charlotte in her apartment and becomes her new guardian. Charlotte wants to help with the escape line, but Ruby is adamant about keeping her protected and out of sight. One day, a teenage boy named Lucien arrives with forged documents containing Charlotte’s new identity; they immediately connect, and Lucien arranges for Charlotte to help him with his work.

Thomas is shot down a second time and returns to Ruby, and for a while the four of them become a family. Soon, Thomas returns to the war, and Ruby realizes that she’s pregnant. Shortly afterward, Ruby is stopped and arrested. She is sent to a labor camp in Germany, leaving Charlotte and Lucien alone. At the camp, she is maltreated and malnourished, but her new friend Nadia helps keep her spirits up. They both end up working at a factory, where a kind manager named Herr Hartmann befriends them and tries to help. When Ruby becomes ill, she worries she’ll be killed and goes to Herr Hartmann for help. Herr Hartmann and Nadia create a diversion so Ruby can escape, and Nadia is killed in the process. Ruby makes her way to a safe house and is cared for by a couple until she gives birth to her daughter, whom she names Nadia.

Ruby succumbs to her illness; elsewhere, Thomas is killed in a plane malfunction accident, but they reunite in the afterlife. Several decades in the future, Lucien recounts his life with Charlotte as it comes to an end.