Such a great book! Those who know me know that I read a lot of WWII historical fiction. My favorites include stories of resistance and this book is that plus mystery and romance with strong female characters. As with many historical fiction books these days, this jumps between 2 time periods, but these are much closer together. One storyline takes place during WWII with a network of female radio operators helping the resistance. The second storyline takes place not long after the end of the war and involves a woman trying to discover the truth behind the network's compromise while trying to find her own direction in life. I truly appreciate the amount of research the author must have put into this book.

One of my favorite books I’ve read in a very long time! I love stories that explore the unsung heroes and behind-the-scenes work in history and this one definitely fit the bill. The Lost Girls of Parisnis filled with tons of suspense and nail biting moments and I LOVED Grace’s character, as well as all of the women who sacrificed so much, especially Marie. I definitely couldn’t put this one down!!

A well-written novel that explores a topic that is often overlooked. I enjoyed reading of the heroics I’d ordinary women and the sacrifices they made. It was obnoxious that much research was done to make this work of fiction accurate. I’m sure women like Marie existed, but as a mother I find it hard to believe that she would willingly put herself in harm’s way, knowing this could leave her an orphan. And not just the work with SOE, but the decisions she made while in the program that seemed out of character for a single mother. That aside, the story was an uplifting, albeit sad, one.

Pam Jeenoff's "The Lost Girls of Paris" is a moving story about women agents helping the resistance during WW II - meticulously researched and perfectly written. Loved it!!

This is an engaging story of British women who were trained to be dropped into France during the German Occupation and assist the French Resistance. Eleanor Trigg, the creator of the women's group, has made their work her life, and readers follow her from 1944 until 1946. Meanwhile, in 1946 a New Yorker named Grace discovers a packet of photos of women in Grand Central Station and decides to find out their story. By going back and forth between Eleanor and Grace, and also the story of Marie, one of the women infiltrators, the reader already has a good idea of what has gone on behind the scenes. There are two fledgling romances to add to our interest. I found the premise somewhat incredible, and could not really believe that a character like Grace would drop everything to find out about unclaimed photographs of women who were strangers to her. Nonetheless, I read on eagerly to discover exactly what had happened to precipitate various events.

Lurking in this mess of a book is an interesting story. From the very beginning, the set up that’s to draw in the reader just doesn’t ring true. It is implausible that someone, Grace in this instance, running very late for work, would stop to open an abandoned suitcase, extract some photos, and then become obsessed with finding out whose headshots are included and what the suitcases’s owner, conveniently killed in a car crash outside of Grand Central Station where the suitcase was found, was doing there. Jenoff missed many chances to bring us into the real terror, the sweat, and the hunger of an infiltrated female agent, just as she missed chances to understand Eleanor more deeply. Her attempts to characterize Grace are done even more poorly. More importantly, Jenoff missed the chance to tell her readers about the real exploits of the SOE, the historical group on which she based her book. An author’s note would have gone a long way in improving the book’s impact. Finally, better editing might have eliminated some glaring grammatical errors (eg, Marie, which...) and strange inconsistencies, such as early in the book the use of alternative words as substitutes for one another, such as Miss and Ms, the latter of which was not used commonly during WWII. The Lost Girls of Paris is a lost opportunity to tell an important story well.

This was a DNF book for me. The beggining was so slow I was unable to really get into it. I'll pick it back up soon. Hopefully it picks up later in the book.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review, so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
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.
The cover and title is what originally drew me to this book.
This author is an automatic buy for me!!. It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
5 star rating!

This book was an interesting story of a group of women who were recruited by the British SOE to help in France during WW2. They were trained as radio transmitters, but were also called upon to act as couriers and saboteurs.

As someone who has read a decent amount of WWII historical fiction, it is not easy to come up with a book that tells a story that I have not heard in part before. However, The Lost Girls of Paris succeeds in that endeavor, and uncovers a great story of female heroics during a time period mostly dominated by the bravery of men. While this is first a work of fiction, it is inspired by the true stories of the female agents of the SOE and their experience during WWII.

The perspective of this book is one I greatly enjoy- switching between three characters, different locations, and time periods to tell the same story. There is a mysterious element to the story line that unfolds well in this style of writing. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII or a female empowerment story.

I was drawn to this book because I figured anything written by the author of 'The Orphan's Tale' was guaranteed to be a fantastic read! Pam Jenoff certainly delivers!! I was quickly immersed into the story and loved every bit of it! One can just picture themselves out strolling along and finding a suitcase.. and being a snoop.. opening it up to see what was inside. Old pictures of twelve women. That's just the beginning.. the reader becomes Grace Healy wanting to learn the stories of the women in the pictures.

Fantastic story! Very compelling and a pure delight!

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
(Expected in January 29, 2019)

As the world is getting back on its feet after WWI, this story continues through the time period of WWII.
Beginning with post-war New York and extending the reader too the far reaches of London as well as along to the German-occupied French region and is filled with circumstance and truth.

Told by 3 POV, this novel is based on true historical events, mixed with enough fiction that keeps the reader not only interested but intrigued. A story of mystery, heartbreak, bravery and the 12 heroic female spies that were relentless in fulfilling their roles in a place so foreign to them and their fates given up to a man's war.

Although I found this story to be a bit slow at times, its weaved in a way that keeps the reader moving forward.

A compelling Historical Fiction novel, true to it's genre, and one that I found too be not only enjoyable but knowledgeable due to its meticulous research..

I thank Pam Jenoff as well as NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Novels N Latte Book Blog
Novels & Latte Book Club

In 1946 New York, Grace is trying to get to work on time and must run through Grand Central, a place she normally avoids. She finds an apparently abandoned suitcase and on her second trip past it, stops to check it out. Pictures of twelve women fascinate her. She takes them with her and ultimately decides to solve the mystery behind these women. Switch to 1943 London. Eleanor works for SOE and wants to make more of a difference in the war. Marie is a single mother working in London and sending money back to her mother to support her daughter. It never seems to be enough so she becomes one of Eleanor's first recruits preparing to go to France as a spy.
Told in the voices of these three women, this novel is not the typical WWII story. As someone who loves strong female characters, this book more than made the mark. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys WWII stories. You won't be able to put it down.

CONTAINS SPOILERS: I am surprised by the many positive reviews for this book. Perhaps I missed something, but I must admit I was very disappointed. I have read a lot of historical fiction in the WWII spy/resistance sub-genre, but this one does not measure up to others. I expected more from this author too, since she has had other highly rated titles.

I won’t recap the plot, as most reviewers have already done that. I was pulled in by the beginning of each of the three protagonists’ stories, although I did question what really brought Grace into the story. Because she found an abandoned suitcase at Grand Central Station she became obsessed with finding out the story behind it? That was a flimsy plot point to me. Marie’s willingness to become a spy with basically no knowledge of what she would be doing seemed improbable as well, especially since she was a single mother who risked leaving her child an orphan. I liked Eleanor’s role the best, since it seemed challenging to gauge the girls’ ability to perform in the field without ever having been there herself.

In the middle of the book, I became really frustrated with some of the plot points, such as the “relationship” between Julian and Marie. They spent about two days together and they were suddenly madly in love? Based on what? I didn’t buy that. And when Marie and Will realized Julian was missing, Marie decided to stay in Paris to look for him instead of going back to her daughter. Why? She had little to no experience navigating her way around Paris undercover, and they knew resistance members were being arrested right and left. Really, what were the odds she would find him? But of course, she did (eye roll…) And they get to reveal their secrets and profess their love before their tragic parting.

I was giving the book a second chance as Eleanor was investigating how their network was compromised, but then came more unbelievable plot points: how would Eleanor, an ex-SOE member really have gotten to speak to Krueger? And then to get him to reveal to her in 10 minutes what he would not reveal to the real interrogators? Once again, I just could not buy into that. Add to all of this a neatly wrapped ending and I was only glad to be done.

I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy and give my honest review.

A great WWII Historical Fiction novel about women trained as spies and radio transmitters dropped into occupied France prior to D-Day. Poignant story of 3 women from 3 different stations in life, all having a different role in this fascinating tale. Definitely recommend!

I was super stoked to get my hands on an advanced copy of Pam Jenoff's latest novel. Having not read any of her previous books but hearing the hype, I had high expectations. It did not disappoint! This captivating novel follows three female lead characters whose stories become intertwined. It begins with Grace in New York in 1946 who comes across a suitcase and discovers photographs of 12 women. During her hunt to figure out the story of the photographs, we learn about a special group of women sent to France during WWII whose mission was to help French partisans and sabotage the Germans. While the story is fictional, the basis of women agents working for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war is true.

A solid 4.5 star novel - very engaging. The only potential criticism I would have is that Grace's story, while enjoyable, didn't add much value. I think it could have been just as great focusing on the other two main characters who were directly part of the WWII secret mission.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC.

This novel is based on the history of the British agents sent into France to harass and disrupt the Nazis during World War Two, especially the women. It is interspersed with the story of Grace, a young woman in 1946 New York who finds an abandoned suitcase with pictures of ten of the women inside and goes on a quest to discover the identity of the women and the owner. The sections dealing with the recruitment and training of the women were so familiar that I was sure I had read them before in the several nonfiction books recently released about the Special Operations Executive and Vera Atkins, the woman in charge. Once the women were dropped into France, the details of their activities became sparse and somewhat unbelievable, including occasional scenes of Nazi brutality after their capture. Grace's story includes an unnecessary romance with her late husband's best friend that distracts from the plot. It's an interesting story of the actions of courageous women during the war, but too few details of their actions lessen the effect on the readers.

I liked the story, but the writing had me grinding my teeth a bit. Dramatic moments were cut off at the knees by sometimes anemic writing, but all in all I enjoyed this book.

The novel is told from multiple viewpoints at different points in time. Grace lives in New York City and works for a man who helps out the displaced people coming over from post-war Europe. She enters the stories of Marie and Eleanor Trigg by finding Eleanor’s abandoned suitcase in Grand Central Station. A packet of photographs tickles her curiosity, and on a whim, she takes it.

The parallel storyline tells us what happened to the women in the photographs. Hand picked by Eleanor to become radio operators working from within Nazi-occupied France, Marie is one of the women we follow. I found her character flat and storyline somewhat unbelievable. Eventually, they are betrayed, and the operation is shut down. No one knows what happened to the twelve women and both Eleanor, and eventually Grace, are determined to find out what became of the lost girls.

A compelling read because of the subject matter, but with some deep flaws, in my opinion.

Loved this from beginning to end. I was frustrated with some character decisions but that's okay. Great story.

If you loved The Alice Network and The Nightingale, please read The Lost Girls of Paris. It is a great read about a special group of British women spies during World War II. It's a suspense novel, a history lesson, a mystery story. The character development is wonderful, the writing is beautiful, and the characters are fully-developed.