Member Review

Jenoff's historical fiction novel takes place during and immediately after World War II. In 1946, Grace finds an abandoned suitcase with intriguing photos inside in Grand Central Station. She's compelled to figure out the mystery behind the photos. There are also two other perspectives: Eleanor, who ran a women's unit of quasi-spies during the war, and Marie, an Englishwoman who is drafted into Eleanor's service. I thought this story was immensely interesting with strong, resourceful women. There were several twists that I didn't see coming that did make this feel like a page-turner. However, there were a few elements that kept me from giving this a rave review. First, I felt like there was a romantic storyline inserted with no real reason at all. It felt totally unnecessary to make one of the women fall in love (especially after like 2 minutes of time with that person). Second, the character of Grace didn't really need to be in the story; her scenes didn't have any real weight and it was kind of unclear why she would have felt so drawn to the contents of the suitcase (enough to upend her life). Other readers on Goodreads have pointed out several historical inaccuracies as well, which leads me to think this book would have benefited from a stronger editor. Overall, though, I'm interested in learning more about the real-life group of women who secretly fought during the war - and that's probably the best compliment I can give a historical fiction read.