The Bell and the Blade

by Paullina Simons

In the heart of war, love is the deadliest weapon. A thriller and epic love story from the bestselling author of Tully, The Bronze Horseman and Light at Lavelle.

It's 1944. The world is at war. Forces of evil hold Europe by the throat.

After a mysterious massacre at sea, a ragtag alliance forms in the heart of occupied Belgium.
A handful of Allied soldiers band together with a fearless group of female freedom fighters led by Charlotte Fontaine to carry out a mission no one else can.
The unreachable.
The ticking.
The apocalyptic.

Resolute, hardened by loss - she'll stop at nothing to save the one she loves.
Sharp as a blade, he never wanted to lead, but now he's the only one who can finish it.
Radiant. Innocent. She dreams of peace, but the war won't let her go.
Rebellious, reckless, romantic-and brought to his knees by love.

With time running out, they're hunted by a brilliant and relentless German officer hellbent on their destruction. In a world on fire, it's the unbreakable bonds between the unlikely heroes that make all the difference.

From the master storyteller of The Bronze Horseman comes a thrilling, darkly funny, and heartbreaking epic of love, brotherhood, and sacrifice-when every heartbeat could be your last.

Genres: Historical Fiction

760 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad, USSR, in 1963. At the age of ten her family immigrated to the United States. Growing up in Russia Paullina dreamt of someday becoming a writer. Her dream was put on hold as she learned English and overcame the shock of a new culture.

After graduating from university and after various jobs including working as a financial journalist and as a translator Paullina wrote her first novel Tully. Through word of mouth that book was welcomed by readers all over the world.

She continued with more novels, including Red Leaves, Eleven Hours, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross (also known as Tatiana and Alexander), The Summer Garden and The Girl in Times Square (also known as Lily). Many of Paullina's novels have reached international bestseller lists.

Apart from her novels, Paullina has also written a cookbook, Tatiana's Table, which is a collection of recipes, short stories and recollections from her best selling trilogy of novels, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross, (also known as Tatiana and Alexander) and The Summer Garden.

Reviews

[❥ KAT ❥ Kitty Kats Crazy About Books]

I am so excited for this…The bronze Horseman by this author is one of my most all time favourite series which has always stayed in my heart, a series I’ve read numerous times. So to see she’s written another war time story, I can’t wait to read it..l

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first 100 pages, I told myself "I trust Paullina"

Then, I started being late to everything. I couldn't talk to anyone. I had to finish this book.

A very different Paullina Simons story. I feel like I jumped in to a raging river and was swept away by its strong current- this book was so fast! But brilliant. Action packed.

My favourite author of all time, always.

[Clarice]

Hopefully this gets a US Publication unlike Light at Lavelle 😅 Bc I want to read this so much 🥰

[what.karli.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5

𝙰 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝟽𝟼𝟶 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝟿𝟶+ 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗! 𝚂𝚎𝚝 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚆𝚊𝚛 𝟸 (𝟷𝟿𝟺𝟺) 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚐𝚒𝚞𝚖 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚞𝚙𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚢.

𝙼𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙿𝙾𝚅’𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚏𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚂𝚂 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚛.

𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.

𝙰𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚊𝚜𝚝-𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜.

𝙰 𝚈𝙴𝙿 𝚈𝙴𝙿 𝚈𝙴𝙿 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚖𝚎!

(𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: 𝐈 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 ’𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞’ 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭)

[Lynsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paullina remains the master of the epic historical love story. This one is as sharp and resounding as its title. It hits different - love is only one element, matched by ferocity, friendship, humour, heartbreak, and a game that can have no winners.

[Laurena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author sure knows how to weave a story. Great characters and an interesting plot.

[Madhavi Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow missed the soul of The Bronze Horseman. Couldn't really empathize with the characters except Louise. The good thing about Paullina's writing is that it's never boring. You want to stay till the end of it. The plot was really well done. Wish the characters had been given more flesh too.

[Sherryl Caulfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, reading a Paullina Simons novel always feels like coming home. This WWII story set in occupied Belgium has a premise that was new to me and highly original for this sphere of war.

Narrated by four characters, The Bell and the Blade had a larger band of characters than many of her novels and was a bit of a slower burn at the start.

About one-third in, however, the race-against-time nature of this story more than made up for things, with daring and adrenalin-inducing action and tension. This novel didn’t move me to tears like some of Paullina's other works. Still, I enjoyed it immensely. I found it thoroughly believable and I liked how it confronted gender stereotypes. A great cast of characters and a wonderful tribute to the many heroes of this time and place.

[Mandy Blackspoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the characters and they were given just enough detail for you to feel a connection and then feel the loss.
I did not get the ending, not for anyone or any thing, and it made the love story weaker not stronger.
I loved the story because it was filled with intrigue, knowledge, atmospheric exploration and I was invested in the outcome. But my investment did not pay off.
I gave it four stars because it’s a good book. I just wish I understood the endings and also French. I felt at times the book was too edited. Probably a lot of pressure to make the already large volume smaller but I think this effected the pace of the plot and had the endings fading away instead of clarified.

[Vivi Widodo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie (Charlotte) is on a mission to drop off a Jewish kid at the ship, yet the ship hasn't arrived as planned. Instead, both Charlie and the kid, Zeus, found an injured Congolese man who survived the massacre. He knows there's something on the La Fortuna ship that the Germans can never be allowed to find.
A handful of Allied soldiers led by Fletcher met with a group of female freedom fighters led by Charlie, working together for one mission. They have to work around the clock to ensure a German officer, Rheinhardt, won't discover whatever was kept in La Fortuna.

The book is divided into four parts, and the suspense builds with each new part. However, while the book is slightly overly long, it is really entertaining, with lots of funny, witty conversations and likable characters, even I am kind of liking the antagonists 😆. I really didn't expect that I would chuckle so often throughout the book.

The chapters of Hubner and Rheinhardt are really entertaining. And, it is not Paullina Simons without a love story to make you cheer and cry.

[Chinchilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it

Well researched, as Simons’ books always are. It took a while to set the stage but it was a page turner. The love story is secondary to the main plot, so if you’re expecting a Bronze Horseman type of epic love story, this book will probably disappoint you.
I’ll admit I’m a hopeless romantic, so the ending could have been better. That’s all I’ll say so as to not give away any spoilers.

[Lana Kortchik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was nothing like I expected. It was unlike every other Paullina Simons book I have read and loved. But like every other book by Paullina Simons, it made me fall in love with the characters, only to break my heart. What a journey this story was, one that will stay with me for a very long time.

[Priscilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of this author for a while. Her book 'The Bronze Horseman' is one of my favourites of all time. This one isn't as good, but still an enjoyable read. The romance and character development are taking a back seat from the main plot and I wish we get more of them.

[Cath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paullina Simons - back to her best, Light at Lavelle was good, The Bell and the Blade…phenomenal and I couldn’t put it down. It was like reading a movie. Action packed, love, grief and heartbreak. I laughed and I cried. A well deserved 5 stars.

[Denise]

2.5/5

[Erin Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this so much, one of the best books I’ve read all year

[Ashley McWhannell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooo good!!! Loved

[Annie F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another war story but told well and interesting characters

[Ann Koenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simons writes lengthy novels and while I enjoyed reading the story of Belgian resistance workers in WW2, it was probably a bit too long. Looks as if she might have a sequel to it!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a long time fan of Paullina Simons' work so I was super excited for this! A gripping read from start to finish and very hard to put down.