Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, therefore I was very interested in what this novel had to offer.

One summer morning, Grace stumbles upon a suitcase at Grand Central Station. Inside it, she finds twelve photographs of young women. Hours after the encounter with the suitcase, Grace learns that its owner, Eleanor Trigg, has been hit by the car hours earlier and died on the scene, right in front of Grand Central. But when Grace discovers another piece of information about the victim, she does unthinkable - she goes to Washington DC to investigate further into Eleanor's case and photographs she has found in her suitcase.

Two years prior, Eleanor formed a group of female secret agents that were sent to France to help with the resistance. A few weeks into the new operation, Eleanor noticed discrepancies in communication with her girls, and shortly after - the agents started to disappear without the trace. Eleanor was released of her duties as soon as she brought her suspicions to the Director of an agency. Two years later, her questions about the lost girls were not answered and Eleonor finally received a chance to follow their steps to discover the truth.

This is a great story about friendship and survival. I enjoyed each character, their determination to keep moving forward has inspired me. Thank you, NetGalley and Park Row publisher for a free and advanced copy of this book, and huge thank you to Pam Jenoff for an incredible story.

4.5 rounded to 5 stars

Wow, this one was a real surprise. I had never read this author before, but was struck by the blurb as well as the title of this novel, and just look at that cover. These factors, plus the fact that several of my Goodreads friends gave it 4 or 5 stars, moved me to give this book a go. I was most impressed!

This WWII historical fiction novel is darker and a bit grittier than many of the other books of this subgenre. It revolves around a small organization of young women willing to risk their lives by being deployed to the war zones of France as radio transmitters. This is a facet of the war that I was unfamiliar with, and I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about these brave women and what they did. There are three narrators of this story, all women. My favorite was Eleanor Trigg, stationed in London, who is the (fictional) founder of this agency of women as part of Churchill’s SOE (Special Operations Executive). The mission of the SOE, which by the way was composed of nonmilitary volunteers, was to sabotage and subvert the Germans in any way possible. The other voices are those of Marie, one of the transmitters out in the field in 1944; and Grace, a young woman who found photographs of twelve of Eleanor’s “girls” in an abandoned suitcase in New York City’s Grand Central Station in 1946. As we follow Grace’s mission to figure out the significance of these photographs, we flash back to 1944 through the eyes of Marie and Eleanor.

This story is laden with tension. These women truly laid their lives on the line for the Allies. The plotline is gripping and emotive; my heart was in my throat on multiple occasions. There is a thread involving romance, but this is minor and not intrusive. There is deception, lies, betrayal, and treachery. We witness the strong bonds women form with each other. We see the true essence of individual human beings unmasked by war. I was glued to this compelling novel. At night I laid in bed thinking about the characters and trying to figure out how all the pieces could possibly come together.

I highly recommend The Lost Girls of Paris to all readers of wartime historical fiction, especially those who love the darker tales such as The
Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

My thanks go to Net Galley, Harlequin - Trade Publishing/Park Row, and Ms. Pam Jenoff for an advanced review copy of this novel. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS is my new favorite Pam Jenoff novel. Most historical fiction novels from WWII that use dual timelines are set a generation apart but this unique story is told in 1944 and 1946. This book is enjoyable and heartbreaking and really hard to stop reading once you start it. The character development, as always with Jenoff’s books, is perfection and you become as invested in figuring out what happened as Grace does after she finds the abandoned suitcase in Grand Central station. I think this novel has a good balance of romance and hardship and a lot of strength and mystery. Those that enjoyed Jenoff’s other books will definitely enjoy this one.

I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

When I heard that Pam Jenoff had a new book, I didn't even read the synopsis. I just KNEW it was going to be great and The Lost Girls of Paris truly is! Pam's beautiful writing and meticulous research shines through in this story! The Lost Girls of Paris is a must read!!

Set during and immediately following WWII and inspired by real life people and historical events, Pam Jenoff’s The Lost Girls of Paris is centered around the stories of three women and a ring of British female spies.

The story begins in Manhattan in 1946. It is here that we meet Grace Healey, who is trying to start over after losing her husband in an automobile accident. One morning while cutting through Grand Central Station on her way to work, Grace happens across an abandoned suitcase tucked under a bench. Only seeing the name Trigg on the case, she looks inside the case and finds a packet of twelve photographs, each photo a different woman. Captivated by the photos, Grace impulsively takes the photos with her but leaves the suitcase behind. When Grace thinks better of what she has done and returns to the station to put the photos back, the suitcase is gone. When Grace hears a news report mention a woman named Eleanor Trigg, she realizes this is who the suitcase and the photos must belong to and becomes even more curious about the women in the photos and all the more determined to get the photos back to their rightful owner. This is the start of quite an unexpected journey for Grace.

Eleanor Trigg is the second woman the story centers on. She worked for Britain’s Special Operations Executive during WWII. The SOE was a British spy ring that was operating in France to arm and help the French resistance against the Nazis. Since their male spies were being captured frequently, Eleanor proposes that they should start recruiting and training female spies to act as couriers and radio operators. She is put in charge of the female spy ring and sets out to handpick her recruits. Eleanor takes full responsibility for the girls she chooses and when twelve of the girls go missing, she makes it her personal mission to find out what has happened, no matter who tries to get in her way.

The third woman The Lost Girls of Paris centers on is Marie Roux, a young woman that Eleanor recruits to become a radio operator in her unit. It is from Marie’s vantage point that we see the recruitment process, the extremely rigorous training that the girls are put through, as well as the dangers of being deployed into Nazi-occupied France. We also get to see the spy operations up close and how adaptable agents have to be if they are going to survive.

Through the journeys of these three women, Jenoff paints an unforgettable story of courage, strength, resilience, friendship, and sisterhood.

My absolute favorite part about The Lost Girls of Paris are the well drawn characters, especially the girls who are recruited to work in the spy network. I just found them all to be such inspiring women, and to know they’re loosely based on real people and a real ring of female spies, just blew me away. These women are such brave warriors and I admired their determination to do their part to stop Hitler. Marie, of course, was phenomenal, but I was also drawn to a young woman named Josie, who although she was only 17, was the fiercest among them as well as the one who was most supportive when other girls like Marie were struggling and questioning whether they were good enough to do the job required of them. There just isn’t enough praise to do this group of women justice.

Eleanor was fantastic too. She’s stern and rather standoffish and most of her recruits don’t especially like her, but they respect and admire her. I liked her mother bear attitude when it came to both her girls and her mission.

A second element of the story that I enjoyed was the way the story was presented from multiple points of view. The details of the story unfold through the eyes of Eleanor and Marie during WWII and then from Grace’s point of view after the war. This three-pronged approach with its alternating chapters allows us to learn about all aspects of the spy ring, from recruitment and training up through deployment and the aftermath from Eleanor and Marie’s perspectives, while we backtrack from Grace’s point of view after the war to eventually learn what happened to the twelve women in those photographs. Those different perspectives and the moving back and forth between the two timelines added so many layers to the overall story and to the journeys of all three women.

The writing style and the overall pacing of the story worked very well for me too. Everything just flowed so smoothly and I loved the steady buildup to the girls’ deployment and then how the intensity picked up and the suspense built up once Marie and the other girls were on the ground in France. It took me a day or so to read the first half of the book, but then I devoured the second half in just a few hours because I so desperately wanted to know how things would turn out for them all.

For me, this story was about as close to flawless as it gets. I did have a couple of minor quibbles, the first being that it didn’t make sense to me why Grace would take the photographs from the suitcase in the first place. The photos are clearly the catalyst that set the rest of the story into motion as far as figuring out who the girls are, but Grace taking the photos just seemed like such an odd thing to do. It bothered me for a few pages, but then I got so engrossed in the rest of the story that I let it go and as you can see by my rating, even with my questioning Grace’s action, I still thought this was a phenomenal read.

The Lost Girls of Paris is one of those books that is going to stay with me for a long time. The writing is beautiful, the characters are unforgettable, and the fact that the story is inspired by real people and events just makes it resonate all the more. I’d recommend The Lost Girls of Paris to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, but especially to those who are fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and/or Martha Hall Kelly’s The Lilac Girls.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC ecopy for my Kindle.
Another great books about the involvement of women and the importance of their roles in WWII.
"The Lost Girls of Paris" were women who were radio operators recruited from different backgrounds and nationalities who were "sacrificed for the greater good" by "the powers that be" in England during the war. Because of the time period, women were not considered as worthy and as valuable as the men who also literally gave their lives to win the war and stop Germany's leaders.
Even though it's a sad story in the way women's roles were treated during this time period, it's also a great story of women's strength and courage., I think the readers enjoy this book and find the way the story ended helped to have closure for the women.
This is my favorite book, thus far, by Pam Jenoff!

Very few books are published about women involved in WWII outside of the factory jobs. Without historical fiction like this, we wouldn't know much about these important women. In our current state of affairs, where women are still fighting for equal pay, recognition, etc, books like these help the cause. The Lost Girls of Paris is very well researched, and captivated me from the beginning. I love reading stories about women playing important roles in historic events. Very well done!

The dual POV this book was told in kept the plot moving quickly. Each time you'd get a "juicy" piece of information from one perspective, the author would switch to the second and continue their timeline. This kept me reading because I wanted to know what was happening during each time period.


Thank you to HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada). for the advance copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS is a story I wanted to love. It's an excellent premise, with multiple POV and some overlapping timelines, of three women during and after the second world war. One a spy, another her commander, and a civilian who is compelled to pursue the truth of their story after piecing together their identities. It sounds amazing, right? If only.

Not only was the writing slow, dull, halting and unpolished (not something I think is to blame from an ARC format perspective), but the characters were.. kind of tossed about. They either felt completely out of their depth (the spy) or were compelled to move the plot forward for reasons that aren't very clear (the civilian) while both (well, all three, actually) drag around a bunch of backstory that is littered with hardships as if that was the only she could actually make them interesting. Despite the fact that one of them was a <b>spy</b> and should've been <b>awesome</b> because <b>lady spy in WWII</b>. But as a result of their lack of personalities, and abilities, I suppose I can see why the author made a point to give us something to distinguish them. Which, if you're curious, are the following : widower, survivor, and single mother.

Don't even get me started on the frustrations of sending someone to do a job that you don't fully believe they can do (which we get to witness when, as an example, the spy leaves her radio at the safe house, in Nazi occupied France, despite protocol saying she is to destroy it, and then actually returns to the safe house that she's fairly sure has been compromised to collect the radio because she left it behind. facepalm emoji), drag them all over the place and throw them into situations where they have little to no information, and then have a male character get <b>mad</b> at them for asking questions.. only for these two people to fall in love.

But it isn't restricted to just one POV/plotline, oh no. To make matters worse, there are <b>multiple</b> of these shoehorned in pseudo-love stories that seem to blossom over the course of, like, days, and take away even more credibility from the whole story.

The characters are painfully one dimensional, we have time-waster romances, and everything ends up reading really hyper dramatic or just completely unbelievable. Which I feel is a total disservice to this story and the real women, and true events, it is inspired by. I felt no emotional connection, no grief, no relief, no nothing. I was just bored or frustrated by the whole thing.

I thought this was probably going to be a two-star "well you tried" kind of read but in writing this review I've just annoyed myself beyond reason by thinking over all these bits I disliked so much, or was just mystified by, so, yeah. Here we are. This was my first read by Jenoff and while I have THE ORPHAN'S TALE on my bookshelf I'm definitely going to be reluctant to prioritize it after this experience.

I would rate this 4.25. A great historical fiction taking place during and soon after the end of the War. The novel focused on a handful of British women who were handpicked and recruited in secret by the British government in WWII to serve as spies gathering information for the upcoming invasion by the Allies in France, and in some cases conducting sabotage. They were not officially government employees but valiantly took the high risk to serve a higher purpose. I was not aware of this operation but what an interesting read. The story follows three such women with all of the harrowing risks to them and their families who stayed behind. A very mesmerizing tale with twists and turns. A wonderful read which is hard to put down. Another great novel by Pam Jenoff. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

LOVED this book. Liked The Orphan Train, but I feel that Pam Jenoff has come a long way with her character portrayals here. Bravo. I will look forward to her next book!!

4.5 stars!

This story is so interesting because it is about something that not many people know about WWII. The special operatives faction and even espionage, in general, are just so fascinating. We follow the characters of Grace, Eleanor and Marie, who each have their own stories. Right from the beginning, the reader is captured when Grace finds Eleanor's suitcase. You just need to know more.

The only thing that I wish was different about this book was more focus on Marie. I thought her storyline was the most interesting, and since not many people know about the special operatives it was fun to learn. The story is great, and I will likely purchase this for a friend when it comes out.

I am loving the trend of strong female characters in books. And The Lost Girls of Paris is yet another standout in this genre. The Lost Girls of Paris is the story of a group of young women chosen to be a part of the resistance during WWII. Josie, Marie, and a crew of other women are chosen and trained by Eleanor Trigg and sent out to the field.

This story in told from three perspectives. Marie, Eleanor, and Grace (a woman who finds their photos a couple years after the war). Though it took a little bit to get the hang of the characters, once I did I was hooked. Each of these women were strong and had such compelling stories. Each part could have been a book on its own. It’s rare for me to say that, as with multiple viewpoint stories one is usually stronger than the other.

This book was riveting. I could not stop turning the pages. And at points my heart was racing, wondering what was going to happen next. I loved the book even more when I read the authors note and saw it was based on a true story. If you are looking for a book with strong women and strong female friendships, check this one out. I am hoping that someone buys the right to it and turns The Lost Girls of Paris into a movie!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This was my second Pam Jenoff novel & it did not disappoint. This story drew me in right from the beginning. The story is intricately woven sharing the story of three very different women in varying circumstances. I grew very attached to Grace, Eleanor & Marie and really enjoyed reading how they were involved. WWII novels are among my favourite genres and I’m generally familiar with the topics but this was a new one for me. It made it all the better to know that the story, while fictitious, is based on actual events during the war. I thought the book was stellar.

“A remarkable story of friendship and courage centred around three women and a ring of spies during ww2”

What a great plot filled with strong women going above and beyond their station. Loved all the women and was rooting for all of them. I enjoyed their different missions and loved the idea of women spies in nazi occupied europe. (Which is historically accurate, but i has never heard of them before)

I have to say that Marie’s need to find out what happened to the lost girls feels a bit contrived and unrealistic. It’s so nessesery to the plot that I shake my head because I doubt anyone would go to such lengths.

Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone who likes historical fiction.

The concept of this book is amazing. I really looked forward to reading about women working on the warfront. Women playing a substantial role in the downfall of the Nazi party.
There are some things I really enjoyed and disliked about this tale, as well.
I thought the action throughout - once the women made it to France and faced adversity at about 61% in - was great! But these parts were so short! Then it would cut back to 1946 (2 years later) to a completely different time frame entirely.
Grace, was her name. The woman who looked through someone's suitcase at the train station and stole the photos inside. This didn't seem plausible to me. Who does that? There must have been a better way to unearth the espionage of the SOE of 1944. And why was the timeframe so short? 2 year difference... It just didn't seem necessary to switch time frames for 2 years difference.
Ultimately, even with the lulling lulls, I actually enjoyed the story. It all fit together rather well and it was nice that the timelines eventually crossed.

This is a deeply satisfying read for fans of historical fiction. Grace, implausibly but go with it, finds and opens an abandoned suitcase in Grand Central Station in 1946- and removes 12 photos of young women. This leads down the path to Eleanor Trigg, who created and ran a program to infiltrate women into occupied France as part of the SOE. Jenoff does a good job of describing tradecraft and the feel of those who run assets. Marie is one of those women- incredibly brave and in many ways out of their element but determined to do their jobs as radio operators or saboteurs. When they begin to go missing, Eleanor desperately tries to find out what's happening. No spoilers- there's tension here that you should experience. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I very much enjoyed this= I read it in a day because I was unable to put it down.

I really enjoyed The Lost Girls of Paris. I got so invested in “the girls” and worried about them when I wasn’t reading the book. I found myself picking up the book at every available moment. I’ve read other books about WWII, but this book offered a fascinating view of the importantance of women in war efforts. Strength, friendship, heartache and mystery...this book supplied them all. This was my first book by Pam Jenoff and I can’t wait to pick up another. Thank you to Netgalley and Park Row Books for an advanced copy of this book. It’s a winner!

Thank you to the publishers for an advanced copy of The Lost Girls of Paris to review. All opinions are my own.

Pam Jenoff’s writing and storytelling is like fine wine - it gets better with age/novel, if that is at all possible. Pam continues to educate her readers on different aspects of WWII. The Lost Girls of Paris starts out in New York - with Grace finding a suitcase in Grand Central Station. What follows is Grace’s determination to find out everything about pictures in this mysterious suitcase. Grace uncovers the story and history of The Lost Girls of Paris. She learns about Eleanor Trigg, the leader of the Female Secret Agents out of England. Eleanor is convinced she can train and deploy women into German/Nazi occupied France to do the job men were failing to do because it was no longer safe for men to be out and about. Ms. Trigg sets out to find women and in the novel we learn about their lives, training, covert operations, and how these women’s lives turn out. The story is rich in female heroism during WWII - something many WWII books do not touch upon.

You can tell by the writing; Pam Jenoff does a tremendous amount of research in writing her novels, and it shows. She leaves her readers wanting more, so much more!

Another winner for Pam Jenoff - I will absolutely be suggesting and recommending this wonderful novel to all of my reader friends who enjoy Historical Fiction, as well as to my book club!!

Wow!! Made me proud of the girls/woman of WW2 in Paris. The story is told in 3 views. Marie and Eleanor that were there and then a few years forward Grace. Couldn't put the book down.

Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “The Lost Girls of Paris” by Pam Jenoff, Park Row Books, January 29, 2019

Pam Jenoff, Author of “The Lost Girls of Paris” has written a captivating, enthralling, suspenseful, intriguing, intense, emotional, edgy and thought-provoking novel. Kudos to Pam Jenoff for her amazing well written novel that vividly describes the characters and landscape in the story. I appreciate the historical research that went into this story. The Genres for this story are Historical Fiction, inspired by true events, Partial Fiction, Suspense and Espionage. The time-table for this story is 1946, and just during the war and after the war. The author describes her dramatic and colorful cast of characters as complex and complicated.

It is just after the war, and Grace Healey, now a widow has come to live in New York, while dealing with her loss. A tragic car accident forces her to go through Grand Central to get to work. She trips over a suitcase. Grace sees a name on the outside, and curiosity gets the best of her, and she opens it up. She cuts her hand on something and sees that it is an envelope with pictures that are in lace. They are young women , some dressed in uniforms. Grace tries to see if someone is looking for a suitcase or pictures. Short on time, Grace puts the pictures in her pocket-book and heads for work.

Grace learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, the leader of recruited females in England used as spies that were sent to France during the war. Twelve of the women disappeared and never came home. Grace, with the help of her deceased husband’s friend start to look for more information.

In the pictures are young women named Marie and Josie, amongst others. They were a group of women operatives working for Britain’s Special Operations during the war, stopping and sabotaging efforts of the German as much as they could. It was extremely dangerous, and could mean these young women’s death. Some handled the radios transmitting information, and others blended into the French countryside getting information. Some would blow up things to stop the Germans.

It seems that these women had a friendship and sisterhood that kept them going. They were brave and courageous. Unfortunately their positions were compromised by betrayal from possibly someone in London. Why are these girls missing?

Grace wants answers as to who, what and why this happened. This novel has twists, and turns. There is danger, murder, betrayals, and heart-break. This is an intense and edgy novel that I would highly recommend for those readers who enjoy a thought-provoking novel. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.