A New York Times Bestseller“Fraught with danger, filled with mystery, and meticulously researched, The Lost Girls of Paris is a fascinating tale of the hidden women who helped to win the war.” —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were YoursFrom the author of the runaway bestseller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three … Before We Were Yours
From the author of the runaway bestseller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female secret agents during World War II.
1946, Manhattan
One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs—each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station.
Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal.
Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances.
A Cosmopolitan Best Book Club Book, PopSugar Must-Read, and Glamour Best of 2019
“An intriguing mystery and a captivating heroine make The Lost Girls of Paris a read to savor!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
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If you enjoy historical fiction and especially WW2 stories, this book is for you.
I don’t read historical fiction very often, but this book was a reminder why I should. What a beautiful story. Love and tragedy, hope and despair – all set in the backdrop of the WWII era. I loved the non-linear timeline and discovering the truth behind he lost girls of Paris along with Grace and Eleanor. Simply wonderful.
I really enjoyed this book and learned more about British operatives in France during the war. The characters were interesting and the writing was superb. Kept me interested and I hated to put it down when I had to.
I enjoyed learning of this
An excellent historical fiction.
Really enjoyed this. The reader of the audiobook was superb with her accents of different characters, and the story kept me concerned for all the characters. Great read!
It was a great Book Club read. It was one of the better WW2 stories about women. A tragic story about war.
One of the best books I have read! Could not it it down.
Plot idea was great.
I really enjoyed this book and was surprised that it was a true story.
LOVED this book! But so tragic.
Loved the twists and turns this book took. Although fictional, it was a great follow up to Spymistress (a true story).
Historical fiction about how women were placed in the shadows of momentous historical moments.
This story takes place during and after World War Two. It was about what it was like in that time and place. It was heartbreaking and I loved the characters and I cared about what happened to them. It was almost like I kn3w them.
This is the first book I have read by this author, and I will be looking for more by Miss Pam Jenoff.
I liked this book. Switching between two stories that happen during and just after World War II was very well done. Although the story during the war (about British female spies sent behind enemy lines) was certainly more suspenseful than the other, I thought both worked together really well. The characters were well created and seemed realistic. The biggest problem I had was the ending. It just seemed to stop flat with a number of questions introduced earlier in the book left completely unexplained.
My second favorite novel I’ve ever read. Brilliant. Truely fell in love with Eleanor.
I absolutely loved this book!
This beautiful book alternates between 3 different stories that tie together – Grace in New York in 1946, Eleanor in London in 1943 and Marie in London/Scotland/France in 1944.
A woman is hit and killed by a car on the streets of New York, causing Grace to take a bit of a detour to work. Grace finds a suitcase under a bench in Grand Central Station in 1946. Inside are some women’s clothing and toiletry items as well as a stack of photos of various women with their names on the photos. Grace is intrigued immediately. Who are these women and why is this suitcase here? She has come to New York to get away from her family after the death of her husband, Tom. Grace enjoys her work at Frankie’s law practice for immigrants but solving the mystery of these photos could give her a sense of purpose.
Eleanor works as a secretary and unofficial advisor to Gregory Winslow, Director of Special Operations Executive. The SOE was created to “set Europe ablaze through sabotage and subversion”. They’ve sent hundreds of agents into Europe to help win the war by disrupting rail lines and munitions factories. However, the SOE has had multiple agents arrested in the past month and they are wondering what they are doing wrong. Eleanor realizes that having men do the work draws too much attention as all healthy men would be off fighting in the war. However, women would blend in much more easily. Eleanor gets permission to start training women to be radio operators and relay messages back and forth between England and France.
Marie is a single mother of a five-year-old daughter who works as a typist at the War Office annex. She is recruited to work as one of Eleanor’s agents. Her daughter, Tess, has been living with Marie’s Aunt Hazel for more than two years to keep her safe and Marie misses her terribly. She struggles with the idea of leaving Tess behind to go work for Eleanor but the money she will make will help Marie keep her house and support Tess. She is sent to Scotland to train and determine if she can take on the challenge.
The alternating story helps build suspense as Grace tries to figure out who the women in the photographs are and how the woman killed by the car fits in. Marie and Eleanor’s stories twist together to culminate in a series of dramatic events and lead up to Grace’s portion of the story. The three women are fascinating, strong, female characters who are so well written.
Historical fiction is not usually my favorite genre but I fell in love with this story. I laughed and cried out loud while sitting on the edge of my seat. There are such emotional parts of this story that will break your heart but the conclusion leaves the reader with hope. This is a 5-star read for me.
I love anything World War II historical fiction, but am especially enthralled with stories of the females who were involved, either as spies or nurses or pilots. The strength of the human spirit never ceases to amaze me, and the women portrayed in this book are no exception. Their dedication, their willingness to risk everything, their bravery …. it’s wondrous to read about, even in the sadness and horrors of war.
I enjoyed The Lost Girls of Paris, which provided some insight into one of the lesser-known aspects of the Second World War—a group of young female British spies sent to Paris to aid in the French Resistance in advance of the invasion that effectively ended the war. The novel toggles back and forth from the present (1946) with Grace Healy, a young American war widow, and 1944 (in both France and England) with the heroic women who conducted this dangerous, but important work. Grace Healy becomes drawn into her own personal investigation of these women and ultimately solves the mystery of their ultimate fate at the end of the novel.
I truly enjoyed The Lost Girls of Paris, but I struggled at first to accept Grace’s commitment to her investigation despite her lack of a personal connection to either the operation or any of the women connected to it. As the story evolved and I moved past my one point of criticism, I settled in and fully enjoyed the ride!
I was drawn into this book from the first page and wanted to know more about Marie and the other “girls” who were sent to Paris and other areas to spy before D-day. I don’t usually read a lot of historical fiction, but was intrigued by this book. Each chapter is told from a different point of view, going between Grace in 1946 New York, Eleanor in London both before and after the war, and Marie one of the “girls.” Although this was a fictional account it felt very realistic and kept me wanting to know what would happen next. Because of this book I plan to read more books about this time period to find out more.
I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Harlequin/Park Row through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.