Margot Rosenthal is brought to Paris and the Versailles peace conference by her German diplomat father. They had been in England where he was a visiting professor. In Paris she feels constrained with her only friends being her father and Tante Celia, her mother's sister. One day out walking she meets Krysia an accomplished pianist with radical friends and later, Georg, a damaged German naval officer, working at the conference. She goes to work translating for him. She feels constrained by her engagement to Stephan, a badly injured German Jewish soldier. She must deal with her attraction to Georg and her duty to Stephan. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. There were quite a few moments where the story lagged a bit, which is why I docked it a star. I really enjoyed how Jenoff has the main relationship be centered around a father and daughter, which hasn’t been seen a lot in my reading career. ( )

Takes place after WWI when the powers are in Paris splitting up territory and deciding the fate of the defeated German/Austian/Hungarian empires. The central character is the daughter of a German ambassador working to find a peacetime solution that prevents future wars. The daughter grows as a strong women thru ordeals and encounters with others in Paris.A story of love, betrayal, friendship and mystery. ( )

4.5 stars. The Ambassador’s Daughter is a riveting novel that has many unexpected twists and turns. Revelations about a long held secret and a shocking betrayal add to the story’s complex and multi-layered plot. Rich in historical detail, Pam Jenoff provides her readers with a fascinating story about a time period that is typically not featured in historical romances. Please click HERE to read my review in its entirety. ( )

Blackmail and betrayals, romance and guilt, they all play a part in this story. This book is a prequel to The Kommandant's Girl and The Diplomat's Wife. It’s 1919 and twenty-year-old, Margot is staying in Paris with her father, an ambassador working for the German government on the Treaty of Versailles. She is bored and lonely, until she makes friends with Krysia, a mysterious musician. Margot inadvertently repeats secret information putting her father’s reputation in jeopardy. George Richwalder, a handsome naval officer, also working for the German government, offers her work as a translator and Margot can't help being attracted to the emotionally damaged, but charismatic officer. She begins to question her feelings for her fiance, Stefan, a soldier slowly recovering from his catastrophic wounds back home. Her father expects her to want to return to Germany to marry Stefan, but Margot keeps prolonging her return as best she can.

I think, because Margot felt so young and naive to me most of the time, I found her relationship with Georg Richwalder, an older man, fairly unrealistic and a bit strange at times. If Margot was mature with a characteristics that made her feel older than her twenty years, it might have been a bit more plausible, but this was not the case. I'm a bit unsure as to why the older Richwalder would be interested in someone who is portrayed as still a child.

I'd categorize this novel as historical fiction with strong romance elements. I'm not a huge romance fan but I found the history and politics of the time interesting and the romance a bit melodramatic. I can't say for sure that everything in the novel is historically accurate, but it felt realistic to me. I do recommend that you read this book if you intend to read The Kommandant's Girl, as there are spoilers in it regarding the history of these characters. I do think The Kommandant's Girl is a much better book and readers can skip this one if they choose.
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