" Paris in Ruins ...simmers with romance, action, and history...an astute, compelling portrait of everyday people caught up in the Führer's obsession with Paris." — Midwest Book Review PARIS, 1943 . Hate drove Hitler to order the total destruction of Paris; this is the love story that saved the city and the first book in Marguerite Charbonneau's trilogy. She is an extraordinary French woman: a brilliant PhD candidate at France's superior university, striking in her features and elegant deportment, opinionated and sharp tongued, and passionate in all that she does. Intent on enjoying life despite the occupation, she lives with German Colonel Erich von Hochstätten, a handsome aristocrat she loves, who is chief of staff to the Military Governor of Paris. Erich is an admired Olympic equestrian champion who introduces her to high society. Marguerite's charismatic former lover Jean-Baptiste Duval convinces her that Germany is losing the war and seduces her into spying for the Resistance. Their love triangle is discovered by an SS-Gestapo psychopath placing them all in grave danger. Will they survive the war? . . . and if they do, which man will she choose? The story is based on true events in their actual settings and inspired by the real men and women who courageously fought for the liberation of Paris. Their uprising is one of the iconic events of WWII that narrowly saved Paris from becoming the "field of ruins" ordered by Hitler to punish Parisians and to delay the Allied advance following D-Day. This is a thrilling novel for everyone! "Richards deftly chronicles a predicament that is as emotional as it is political...vividly capturing the volatility of Paris under the occupation. An intriguing...war tale." —Kirkus Reviews "The story's twists and how the characters deal with them are told with a flair for human foibles that will keep the readers involved to the end." —BlueInk Review "...illuminates the will of those who stood against the enemy... saving their beloved city from utter destruction." —Manhattan Book Review "Richards deftly chronicles a predicament that is as emotional as it is political for Marguerite. She is caught between her feelings for Erich and the more dashing Jean-Baptiste . . . The author vividly captures the volatility of Paris under the occupation. An intriguing . . . war tale."- Kirkus Reviews - "Paris in Ruins is a novel that simmers with romance, action, and history . . . D. Manning Richards creates an astute, compelling portrait of how emotional connections bubble under the surface of political events, surveying the lives of everyday people caught up in the Führer's obsession with Paris . . . highly recommended reading for history and romance enthusiasts alike. It deserves a prominent place in any library strong in either genre."- Midwest Book Review - "Articulately researched and spun into an intriguing tale of dichotomies: love and hate, acceptance and defiance, fidelity and treachery, Paris in Ruins: A Novel of Passion and the French Resistance is a creative and noteworthy work of historical fiction sprinkled with the flavor of romanticism. It illuminates the will of those who stood against the enemy at a time in history when it meant saving their beloved city from utter destruction."- Manhattan Book Review - "In this complex, engaging novel . . . protagonist Marguerite is on her way toward a PhD degree. She lives with Erich, a married German colonel . . . Her placid life is disrupted by Jean-Baptiste, a former lover and Resistance agent. Erich is from an aristocratic military family, comfortable with men, awkward with women, and somewhat of a sexual prude. Passionate Marguerite gradually eases the latter and draws ever closer to the colonel, whose anti-Nazi sentiments have drawn the unwelcome attention of a particularly sinister Gestapo agent . . . Jean-Baptiste is tortured; Erich's life is endangered; Marguerite dodges peril after peril . . . The story's twists and how the characters deal with them are told with a flair for human foibles that will keep the readers involved to the end."- BlueInk Review D. MANNING RICHARDS holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture and a Master of City Planning degree and is an avid amateur historian. The greatest period of his professional career, before becoming a novelist, was as a real estate developer of office, residential, and hotel buildings in Washington, D.C. He and his wife Judith lived in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter of Paris at 23 Rue Jacob for four and a half years while researching and writing his Paris novel. They now live in Nice, France, where he is writing the second novel in Marguerite's trilogy tentatively titled "French Riviera Interlude." He has written two multicultural, family saga novels about Sydney, Australia, where he lived and worked three times for a total of nearly nine years: Destiny in Sydney [1787-1902] and Gift of Sydney [1903-1981].