The Lost Girls of Paris
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to get this book because I have read and enjoyed Pam Jenoff’s previous novels. This one didn’t ring true for me at all. I couldn’t understand why Grace took the pictures from a stranger’s suitcase in the first place and why she needed to go to all the trouble to find out who they were and what their story was. Marie’s story also felt far fetched to me, why would she leave her daughter and sign on for a dangerous life risking assignment with minimal training. Both of the romantic story lines, Grace’s and Marie’s were predictable and unrealistic. Overall, this book was a disappointment for me, no more than three stars.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and Pam Jenoff for the advanced copy.

What an amazing story of incredibly brave courageous women during World War 2. Eleanor Trigg is in charge of an all female spy group sent to France to help the war effort as couriers and radio operators. Marie is one of Eleanor's spies who is sent to be a radio operator. She quickly becomes friends with Josie. Josie is only 17 years old. The strength and braveness of the women are simply incredible. They know at any given time if they are caught by the Germans they will be killed. After the war, 12 of the women are missing and feared killed. Eleanor is in New York when she is killed. Grace Healey finds Eleanor's suitcase in the train station and becomes obsessed to find out what happened to the women. The story is told during the war and what the women endure and after the war as Grace is trying to find out information. I loved the characters in this book. Marie was my favorite. She goes from an unsure young woman to a brave and courageous woman. This is an amazing story of friendship, bravery, courage, and above all hope. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Harlequin Park Row. All opinions are my own.

The narration of how a few young people, some in their teens, served as agents behind enemy lines during the German occupation of France is fascinating. They were in constant danger yet sometimes they just had to let loose with a few hi-jinks. The overlaid story of a young widow shortly after the war ended has some great angles too. She has escaped from the dulling propriety of her family and works for an altruistic immigration lawyer in a tiny office where he does his best for a flood of truly needy clients. This is also a romance novel but the relationships were somewhat undeveloped.

The story starts in 1946 Manhattan with the story of Grace, a woman who lost her husband in a tragic car accident during the war.  She's already late for work and finds her route blocked by an accident; a woman has died aftering being hit by a car.  Grace takes a shortcut through Grand Central Station where she trips over an abandoned suitcase under a bench with the word Trigg written in chalk.  She opens the suitcase to search for identification and finds photographs of twelve different women, which she takes on an unexplained impulse.

Throughout her day she looks at the women and finds their names written on the back of each photo.  Grace feels compelled to learn the story of these women and finds herself drawn in to their story when she discovers the woman who died in the accident that morning was a British citizen named Eleanor Trigg.  The suitcase -- the photographs -- had belonged to Eleanor.

Eleanor Trigg worked as a secretary for Special Operations Executive (SOE), an agency created to sabotage the Germans by sending agents in to the field to collect information and set up special operations.
Trigg has earned the trust of the Director with the skills and knowledge she has displayed and gained the role of an advisor, though most of the men seated at the table with her are skeptical.
She makes the bold suggestion of recruiting and training female agents to deploy because the Germans would not expect female spies.  To her surprise, Trigg's suggestion is not only approved but she is placed in charge of recruitment and training.

One of the women recruited is Marie, a single mother who has left her daughter in the care of an aunt as the dangers of air raids rages on too close to home.  Marie is approached by a man impressed by her French and he leaves her with a card for Eleanor Trigg, promising important work and excellent compensation.

Marie not only immediately respects Eleanor but trusts her too, leading Marie to say yes to the offer.  She finds herself one of several women under Eleanor's leadership to be deployed to Paris as a radio operator.

In alternating chapters from the perspectives of Grace, Eleanor and Marie, we learn the fate of the women in the photographs Grace found in the suitcase.  

The Lost Girls of Paris is an incredible tale inspired by the true story of Vera Atkins and the female SOE agents during World War II.  Jenoff did a fantastic job of finding a balance between fact and historical fiction, creating a sense of urgency for readers and delivering a captivating story of bravery and betrayal!

Thanks to Park Row and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Lost Girls of Paris is scheduled for release on February 5, 2019.

I’ve read several nonfiction books about the SOE, and several novels featuring the organization. The SOE was an organization set up to facilitate sabotage and chaos behind Axis lines, to set Europe “on fire.” Even with all the reading I’ve done, it was a confusing organization. Apparently, it had many sections and subsections and was constantly changing in its organization and leadership. You might read a book on the SOE and it barely mention the women that were involved with the organization at all, then read another and it sounds like sending women spies to Europe was its chief activity.

The Lost Girls of Paris is an excellent addition to this body of historical fiction. Through the lives of several fictional women, it tells the story of the betrayal of the women radio operators in France in 1944, which continued to operate after it was clear that it had been infiltrated. There have been several theories about who was responsible; one of the major ones is that the British knew the spy network was compromised, but sacrificed their own agents to protect the secret of the coming invasion. This novel takes this view. The organization of the SOE is much simplified for the book, but there are some satisfying details, such as how a character exactly included “checks” in their radio messages: she encoded the 35th character as a “p” and substituted a “k” for every other “c”. I’ve seen “checks” mentioned many times in relation to radio messages, but have never been given concrete examples.

I was a bit disappointed in the ending. Confusingly, the 1946 character gives her lover $10K and tells him it’s for the funeral of another character; it’s unclear why she thinks he would be in any way able to pay for this woman’s funeral better than herself, especially since the dead woman had been killed weeks earlier. Also, two characters formerly associated with SOE had been killed in car wrecks, and I thought the book was going to grow into a murder mystery – someone’s killing the survivors of the SOE, but no, it just ended.

Thanks to #netgalley for an advance copy.

“The Lost Girls of Paris” is a novel of historical fiction that weaves two stories together to look at the brave and courageous women of the SOE, and their treatment by the British government. The SOE was a British operation created during WWII to disrupt the progress of German Army in such ways as blowing up bridges, destroying train tracks etc. While the women, for the most part, were to be telegraph operators they often ended up doing much more than that and often much more dangerous work. I struggled with two aspects of this book. The first was the premise of the story, that of a woman finding what appeared to be an abandoned suitcase in a train station, opens the suitcase and then actually takes photographs out of it. This seemed like a real stretch for me, who would steal photographs from someone else’s suitcase? The second thing that I found was somewhat disappointing was that the book seemed very light on history. It seemed like the author used a very broad brush historically without much historical detail. I was surprised by the very few historical references cited at the end of the book. Because of this it almost seemed that this should be classified more as Women’s Fiction (or "Chick lit"), than historical fiction. I think if I had known that up front I would have approached the book differently. That being said, I enjoyed “The Lost Girls of Paris” exploration this very interesting British government operation which until very recently was unknown to me. And regardless of my hesitation, I was thoroughly engaged in the book and the intersecting journeys of the main characters kept me reading well into the night! No doubt, Pam Jenoff is a gifted storyteller! I was honored to receive a free copy of the book by NetGalley and the Publisher, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is Historical Thriller Fiction set in World War II and just after. I loved this book as I have every book Pam Jenoff has written. The characters and settings are well written, the reader is immediately drawn into their world and lives. This book has non stop action, thrills, tragedy, mystery and love. The girls work in conjunction with various groups and citizens to thwart the Nazi forces.. It is a story of their strength, bravery, hardships and sorrows that they endured. I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. My thanks to the author, the publisher and netgalley for the privilege to read, review and enjoy this book.

After reading the stellar reviews for this book - and it's comparison to Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale - I thought this was a sure win for me.

*Spoilers ahead!!!*

Sadly, it was not a win for me.

I *liked* this book. I thought the premise of the Women's Division of the SOE to be intriguing. That being said, I felt there lacked something in the execution of this book.

Why bring Grace into this story at all? The whole story could have been told from Eleanor's point of view, beginning with her landing in NYC to look for Marie (and not getting hit by a car), simply by starting from the beginning when Marie was recruited, to the end, where Eleanor sees Marie again and asks about the other girls. It would have been a much less confusing story in my opinion. All of Grace's story was unnecessary, and yet I know I am in the minority here.

Beautiful and haunting. I believe that through the space of time we forget about the hardships of war and those that are lost. Definitely younger generations (including my own) don't understand this fact because so few of us have gone through it. This book beautifully tells the story of the brave women who helped during WW2 as spies/saboteurs.

I received an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed reading this book. The characters were engaging and I became interested in their lives and their backgrounds. The book begins in New York City the Second World War has just ended. As the main character Grace is rushing to work and comes upon an accident. A woman has just been struck and killed by a car. As Grace takes a different route to work, she finds an abandoned suitcase, which belongs to the deceased woman. Inside the suitcase, she finds a packet containing pictures of young women in their twenties. The rest of the book is spent unraveling their identities and the roles they played during World War II.
Grace discovers the owners of the suitcase is named Eleanor and that she is a British citizen. With the help of a friend and love interest, she is able to discover the woman was the director of a group of female spies/radio operators that played important roles in defeating the Nazis.
The book jumps back and forth in time as we learn the backstory behind the photos of the girls and how each one lost their lives while serving behind enemy lines.
It’s is a book about friendships, loyalties, strong and brave women. It also shows us the horrors that people endure during war. This book is much more than just another historical fiction book about World War II. It is also a mystery, a book about betrayal, a bit of a love story and book about finding inner strength during impossibly dark times in life. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.

The Lost Girls of Paris is a fictional story about strong women, filled with conflict, yet tied together with a cause so important, they overcome many obstacles. This well-researched historical novel is set in a dual timeline fashion.

It begins in 1946, with Grace, a woman working with European refugees, and trying to deal with the grief of losing her husband to the war. While going through an abandoned suitcase, her curiosity draws her, and me as a reader, into wanting to figure out what the strange contents mean and who is the mysterious owner of the luggage.

The contents inside is full of mysterious photographs, a pair of baby shoes, and other seemingly unrelated things. Grace digs deeper, and learns about the life of a female secret agent and how she headed a group of women like herself in clandestine operations during WWII. Though it’s a fictional story, these types of brave female agents existed, though sadly, were left out of most history books.

The story constantly drew me in, with no lags in the storyline. Both timelines are stitched together seamlessly. I admire the strength and bravery of all the women, including Grace and Trig, my two favorites. For any fan of historical fiction, this is a must read!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

I love dual-time period stories! The Lost Girls of Paris portrays the lives of secret agents during WWII. Women secret agents! Their lives are intertwined and create a wonderful story. I was drawn in immediately, when Grace finds an abandoned suitcase and seeks the mysterious owner.

Each of the characters had their own place in my heart, but I mainly identified with Grace. I love how this story was told and that so much research went into this book. I had no idea how the secret operative was established or that women were even selected (at that time) as agents. I also love how heroic and brave these women were. I didn’t want the story to end!

I received a complimentary copy of this book.

A book about women and their roles during WWII - count me in! The Lost Girls of Paris was an engaging read that had me flipping through the pages late into the night to see what happened to the women.

Recruiting women to go into occupied France to be a W-T was no easy task, nor was overseeing the entire operation but Eleanor seemed more then up to the task. Clearly she is an intelligent, fiercely independent woman who was not afraid to stand up to the men who do not believe she nor her recruits were capable of the work. While those qualities made me admire her they weren’t what drew me to her character. It was her utter devotion to the cause and the women she sent over that did. Eleanor did not have an easy path in life, but she certainly made the very most of it.

I have to admit I struggled with Marie. She to had a difficult life and was trying to better her life for herself and her daughter - but she was just so naive. How do you go into Occupied France after rigorous training and make some of the choices that she did. I became frustrated with her and with Julian - as it just didn’t make sense to me.

Grace, oh Grace, she is the character I really enjoyed reading about. Yearning for something more then what was arranged for her she decided to do things differently. And by doing so created a whole new life for herself. I really admired her spirit and determination.

And the ending - it just felt like the right ending for this story and I am so glad that it wasn’t neat and tidy.

Overall, this was a four star read for me. If you enjoy historical fiction featuring strong capable women getting it done then this is the book for you.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin for the opportunity to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have read and loved all of Pam Jenoff’s books and this one is no exception. It is a WWII story of a female spy ring, their friendships and their courage..I thought it was well researched and beautifully written, as are all of her books. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories of Grace, Eleanor and Marie and highly recommend to fans of historical fiction, especially lovers of WWII books.

This book follows the narrative of three women.
Eleanor the commander of a covert mission during the war.
Marie, one of Eleanor's operatives
and Grace, a woman post war who stumbles across some information that leads to questions she wants answers to.

Inspired by true events, this was a fascinating book.
War time books are generally a hit or miss for me, as they can so easily go sideways. But the writing did this story justice.
We know that women were used as underground radio operators in Nazi occupied Europe, and this puts names and stories to these unknown women.

This was my first read from Mrs. Pam Jenoff and I look forward to more! An exciting read about the role of women spies working out of Britain. I enjoyed learning more about the role of the SOE and the on-the-ground work of these women. My chief complaint is that the end of the novel felt very rushed. Overall, it's a good work of historical fiction and an inspiring read about brave women. Fans of The Alice Network will want to grab a copy!

Thank you for an advance copy, NetGalley and Harlequin!

After reading and enjoying Pam Jenoff's previous two novels, I was excited to dig into this one. Pam has once again delivered a captivating story about World War II.

At the same time I was reading The Lost Girls of Paris, I also happened to be reading The Alice Network. While one was about spies and the other about saboteurs and they took place during two different wars (for the most part), they balanced each other out well. Funny enough, both novels mentioned Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal. I learned some new things about World War II from this novel.

I liked the voices of the three women, but felt like Eleanor's narrative took a while to get into. Once the story took off, it was worthwhile. It was to get a grasp of her age though, but I guessed early forties. I also liked how Grace got caught up in the mystery of what happened to all the women.

The situation that Marie was in was scary and I couldn't even imagine taking such risks. Some things that happened throughout the story surprised me, as I didn't see them coming. I kept turning the pages, wanting to know what would happen next. While the ending felt a bit anticlimactic after everything that went on, I was also satisfied by how much information was given.

I recommend adding this novel to your TBR when it publishes in early 2019.

Movie casting suggestions:
Marie: Wallis Day
Grace: Allison Miller
Eleanor: Keeley Hawes
Mark: James Wolk
Vesper: Alex Pettyfer

This book was received as an ARC in exchange for an honest review from HARLEQUIN. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

We are always on the search for new historical fiction novels but this one in particular was historical mixed with action and I must say after reading I am a huge fan of this novel. The background of the suitcase leading Grace to meet Marie finding out she is an undercover agent was so intriguing to read that I could not stop and could not put this down. I really hope at some point this book will turn into a movie and it will definitely be one to re-read and watch.

This book will find a nice home in our Historical Fiction collection at our library and that is why we give this book 5 stars.

I was very excited to receive an advance readers copy of this book from Hanover Square Press and #NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased, honest review. I really, really, really loved this book. It is set in two different times - England and France towards the last few years of WWII and New York the year after. The separate stories tie in so beautifully together and everything flowed so well. I found it so hard to tear myself away from this story and couldn't wait to see how it all ended. I found myself as protective as Eleanor of her girls as I read the story. I am always fascinated and absorbed in WWII novels, but I found myself invested in this one so much, as it is always unique to see how hard women fought to make a difference and to bring justice during WWII. This is a must read!

Beautifully written historical fiction about a group of English women spies who put their lives on the line during WW II. Story is told in 2 time lines, only a few years apart. This story is about country, friendship and, most of all, the courage these women needed to go into enemy territory.

Ms. Jenoff’s writing so vividly describes the war, it’s horrors and the aftermath. The friendship, determination and relentlessness of the characters came shining thru. As does her descriptions of London, New York and DC. Book was well researched.

Highly recommend for fans of Historical Fiction. Fast read because you won’t be able to put it down!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone!