“Create a story of which you will be proud.”

Pam Jenoff has done it again, breaking my heart in pieces and writing another fantastic World War ll novel; this time about women spies! In the same vein as, “The Alice Network”, “The Lost Girls of Paris” centers around three women in the 1940s. Each are connected along the way and form a solid story that is captivating to read about!

I would say, it seems that the duel/multiple perspectives are popular in historical fiction and I think for the most part this format is great. I mean you sometimes you run into liking one character better than the other, but I still think it’s one of the better ways to tell a story. For this one you have...

Grace Healey, who is rebuilding her life after losing her husband during the war. One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, she 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.

Eleanor is a leader of a ring 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.

These three women weave together a story of such bravery and I felt each were given a lovely voice and platform to represent so many women who actually contributed to the war and laid down their lives.

This was a very emotional read set in WWII. I like how it tells the story of three women who became spies. I recommend this for fans of The Alice Network, The Wartime Sisters, and the Lilac Girls.

I received an electronic ARC through NetGalley.
Jenoff writes from the perspective of three women during and just after World War II. Two British women - one working in London and one on the ground in France - work for the SOE. One is an American who becomes connected through happenstance after the war.
Eleanor and Marie become connected when Eleanor recruits her for the new women's group to aid the French Resistance and work on war time activities prior to the D-Day invasion. Their story is told in the past tense.
Grace happens to find an abandoned suitcase in Grand Central Station when she's rushing to work. For some reason, she opens it and takes the photos inside. She learns later that day that the woman who owned the suitcase was killed in a car accident that morning. She decides to investigate who the twelve women are and delves into archives to find answers.
Flashback chapters tell Eleanor and Marie's stories interconnected with Grace's story.
Jenoff writes with vivid descriptions about these three women and the emotional and physical toil the war had on them. She presents realistic characters who faced incredible decisions in their lives.
I was pulled in from the first chapter and felt connected to all three women as they made the best choices they could in the face of danger and betrayal.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher Park Row through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Pam Jenoff might just be one of my favorite authors. She is a master storyteller and is absolutely brilliant at maintaining historical accuracy all the while creating a mesmerizing story. Her attention to detail and her engrossing characters transports the reader to a place in time, allowing you to feel, imagine and experience all that the characters are going through. Their triumphs and their fear, their pain and betrayal. They come across on the page as if you yourself are living them.

The Lost Girls of Paris tells a story through the eyes of three women and of the female SOE agents that all disappeared in a shroud of mystery; never returning home after being sent to France as couriers and radio operators aiding the resistance.
It’s 1946 when Grace Healey is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after the loss of her husband. While passing through Grand Central Station, Grace finds an abandoned suitcase. She soon discovers its owner once worked for British intelligence during the war. It becomes Claire’s mission to reveal the mystery behind these women and the secret role they played during the war.

The Lost Girls of Paris is engaging and deeply moving. Although a story of fiction, the bravery and sacrifice made against the ominous background of occupied France depicts the same fortitude made by countless women during World War II.

There were many moments in this book that I found my breath catching. The mystery, suspense and intrigue is engrossing, and there is just enough of a love story to satisfy. Time will stand still as you read tirelessly through the night and the memories of these characters will stay with you long after the last page is read. Well done Pam Jenoff!

Review posted on both Amazon and Goodreads.

I received this book "The Lost Girls of Paris" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. Well a couple of weeks ago I read "The Alice Network" and enjoyed it. So I thought this book would be a good choice. Unfortunately it is no where near as good. First I didn't understand why Grace felt it her duty to track down anything about the photos. Second why Marie would leave her daughter to become a spy and risk her life is crazy. Her daughter is everything to her. Plus Marie kinda wasn't fit for the job. Why did she not get out when she could have? I could go on about what I didn't like. Anyway I usually only give a one for a DNF but I really need to give this book a one even though I did read the whole thing.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
Pam Jenoff has done it again. Her novels have always been wonderfully well written and this one follows suit. The story begins at Grand Central Station in New York, 1946 with Grace Healey finding an abandoned suitcase as she is on her way to work one morning. Intrigued, Grace opens the suitcase and finds photographs of several women. Grace takes the photographs so that she can learn more about these women. As it turns out, these women were involved in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). I hadn’t read about this organization before but after this book I have been researching. This is such a fascinating story about a time in our history like no other.
I won’t tell you more about the story but I really enjoyed it. Pam Jenoff depicts the WWII era so well and has created strong female characters that we enjoy reading about.
This is a good story for those who enjoy WWII books and especially for fans of The Nightingale or The Alice Network.

The Lost Girls of Paris begins in New York City in 1946. Grace Healey is on her way to work, and while passing through Grand Central Station she discovers an abandoned suitcase. On an impulse she looks inside and finds a folder with photos of women -- just their first names written on the back. She is determined to find out more about this mysterious folder. It leads her to the story of Eleanor Trigg, a spymistress during World War II London. Eleanor recruited young women to work across the continent during World War II. Although they were ostensibly radio operators, they often did much more dangerous work in secret. One of those women was Marie Roux. Her story is also featured here.

This is just a remarkable book. There are so many layers of storytelling, from 1946 New York to 1944 London and France. Most impressively, though, Pam Jenoff tells the story from the perspective of three different women: Grace Healey (New York), Eleanor Trigg (London), and Marie Roux (London and France).

I love historical fiction set in the 1940's, especially during the years of World War II. I had never heard of Vera Atkins (the inspiration for Eleanor Trigg) or Special Operations Executive (SOE) and their work before this book.

The characters in The Lost Girls of Paris are beautifully drawn. I especially found recent widow Grace and young single mother Marie to be very sympathetic, and I read their stories with great interest. Eleanor was more of a cipher, rarely seen outside of work; I never was quite as engaged in her story for that reason, although this in no way impacted my interest in this book.

The historical details are subtle but perfect. The author also does a fine job of sense of place across a variety of different locations and settings.

There was so much that intrigued me about this novel. What prompted Grace to take the photos and investigate the story? Why did Marie leave her young daughter impulsively to join SOE? Who was Eleanor and was she to be trusted?

I read this book in about 48 hours because I was compelled to know the answers to these questions and to find out what happened to these women. The Lost Girls of Paris is sure to be one of my favorite reads of the year, and I cannot recommend it highly enough for other fans of historical fiction, and especially for anyone who loves 1940's history.

It's New York City, 1946. Grace is late on her way to the office, made even later as she circumnavigates a fatal pedestrian-vehicle accident. She cuts through Grand Central station and notices an abandoned suitcase. She opens it and extracts 12 photographs of women, carefully wrapped in lace. She closes the suitcase and takes off with the photographs. Seriously?! Who does such a thing? Except that it's needed for the story-line to work.

In an alternating chapter, it's 1943, London. Eleanor, recently emigrated to London, while escaping Hitler, and is serving as a secretary in the SOE administration (British Covert Intelligence). She has convinced the Director that dropping female agents into France would be the better choice than sending young males in who stick out like sore thumbs as all able bodied Frenchmen are serving in uniform. But no, "The Geneva Convention expressly prohibits women combatants." informs Captain Michaels, one of the advisors at the table. What?! Women POWs are expressly covered under Article 3 of the Geneva Convention of 1929 (the Geneva Convention in place in 1943). Then Eleanor, presumably a very intelligent woman, goes along with the statement instead of refuting it and setting the record straight.

However, Eleanor's idea gets traction and she's put in charge of selecting the female agents who are to be grilled, drilled and prepared to be dropped into enemy territory. Yes, historically this did happen. There were female agents dropped in behind enemy lines and they blended in with local everyday women. But the rest is pure fiction.
I found it absurd that the following was referred to as a poem by Shakespeare when in fact it was a speech in Act IV, scene iii of Shakespeare's Henry V, wherein King Henry addresses his minimal troops before the Battle of Agincourt, (line 60-65):

"From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Such cavalier handling of the historical record rubs this reader the wrong way when it is so easily verifiable and could be rectified. Having said that, if you are just looking for an entertaining book that is sort of historical fiction and details are not important, then this would probably be a most enjoyable read. Pam Jenoff writes very well and I found the story-line interesting as long as I treated it as pure fiction.

I am grateful to Park Row Books and Netgalley for having provided a free ebook copy of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.

"The Lost Girls of Paris" is based on true events and tells the story of a few members of the F Section and their fate. Eleanor Trigg has proved herself with the SOE and has earned the confidence of the Director. Her proposal to create a female secret agent branch to help the F Section in their efforts to bring liberation to occupied France is approved. She personally selects and trains the women and deploys twelve of them in France. The Network is compromised and none of them makes it back to London..or so it seems. Eleanor is soon dismissed, but she does not stop searching for the truth about what happened to the women and who betrayed them. I love that it shows women did more than hold up the home front and how important their role in WWII was.
"Lost Girls of Paris" is the kind of book you can't put down. Pam Jenoff's writing style kept me invested in the story. It flowed at a good pace and I enjoyed reading from the three different viewpoints. If you love WW2 fiction and romances, I would definitely recommend this book!

I loved this book so very much!!! I enjoy historical fiction but find some of it too slow for me and I lose intrest definitely not the case with this one from the very first pages when the case of photos is found this book had me hooked! I loved the strong female characters and the story of women’s efforts during war times. Full of intrigue and heart this is a must read! I loved it so much I bought a copy to keep on my shelves!

Pam Jenoff never disappoints! Well researched and beautifully written! This story will stay with me for a long time. These women served and sacrifice so much and then totally set aside and forgotten! Pam Jenoff brings this story to light with the grace of beautiful story telling!

Historical fiction is right up my alley, and upon seeing—but not reading to avoid spoilers—all the 4- and 5-star reviews, I was sure I would cherish this book and finish it in a heartbeat.

Sadly I’m sorry to say I was wrong. I realize I am in the minority here but the book didn’t resonate with me. In advance I apologize for this review.

From the start, I could not understand how or why Grace would waste precious time—she’s late for work—rummaging through an abandoned suitcase and then become obsessed by some random photos; or why Marie, a single mother, would risk her life going to war, or later risk it even more returning for her radio when her real identity is known and she’s “wanted” by the police. Overall, the story felt rushed when it could have made sense to me because the three main characters weren’t developed, too superficial, and acting seemingly alike one another. Even in the text—for instance, in two following chapters, therefore two different characters, you read that “something inside her hardened.”

Rushed also were some details about France. I was looking forward to them, but it could have been set anywhere else. Some were even incorrect (in “messages personnels” both words end with an S, cities are misspelled, it’s “la petite” not “le petit” since Josie’s a girl, Auvergne is south to Paris, not north, Les Fleurs du Mal isn’t a single poem but a volume of poetry, and so on and forth.)

Then there’s the love stories. They made me roll my eyes—there was something almost childish about them. However horrible the conditions at the time, I couldn’t comprehend how Marie could fall so desperately in love with a guy she’d literally just met, and then take the risk (again) to remain in France rather than to return to the young daughter she hasn’t seen in months. Hardly believable. So many more things I couldn’t buy. As for Grace’s love interest, it didn’t add anything to the story.

In my opinion, things unfold way too easily and they are no struggles to the story—50+ occurrences of “suddenly” doesn’t make a book more climactic. Too easy to breach the Pentagon’s archives, to speak with a consul, to interrogate a high-ranking German officer about to go on trial—and to get him to cooperate, of course—not to mention “how he had managed to hang on to [a small key] through his arrest and interrogation was beyond [Eleanor]”...and us readers, the way the Director gives Eleanor the final bit of information she craves… just everything comes around too easily. And why did Eleanor leave the suitcase in the station when she went around looking for Marie?

I would like to thank the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the advance copy, I will however keep reading Jenoff’s books.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is a gem. Inspired by true events, it chronicles the story of the women who helped to win WWII. Based on historical facts that were meticulously researched by Ms Jenoff, the story revolves around three women - female secret agents who were operating during the war.

From an historical perspective this book is top-notch. But, it’s so much more than an historical narrative. It is a beautifully written tale of friendship, courage and unfailing determination. It is a story of women who were daring and relentless in their desire to help the war effort. It is a story that most readers will thoroughly enjoy. I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

This novel is loosely based on the women who served in the SOE in England. It has a bit of an <i>"Alice Network"</i> vibe. While it was certainly an interesting read, I still came away slightly disappointed. Toward the end, the narrative felt rushed, like the author knew she had to hurry up and wrap things up. This trend of flashbacks and POV chapters told by multiple characters that has somehow become a staple of historical fiction is also starting to wear on me.

The plot itself, I felt, had a lot of promise. The fact that women were essentially spies during WWII is a fact that is often overlooked. I just wish the story had focused more on the women who had been deployed to France rather than on the flash-forward narrative of Grace in New York. While it may sound like I didn't enjoy this novel, I honestly did. It's a book you can definitely enjoy reading on a lazy afternoon. I just felt there was more potential here that the author could have explored. Also with the massive success of the <i>"Alice Network"</i>, its inevitable that the two would be compared. Unfortunately, I think <i> The Lost Girls of Paris</i> comes out on the losing end of that comparison. Thanks to NetGalley for providing and ARC for review.

I thought this was entertaining. The characters definitely captured my attention. Sometimes I need to remind myself that this is fiction. It may be implausible at times, but that doesn't detract from the entertainment factor. In this, Grace takes a detour through Grand Central and finds an abandoned suitcase. It turns out that the suitcase belongs to the woman (Eleanor) that was just involved in a fatal accident outside the station. Grace tries to find out what happened to the girls in the photos. It also tells the story of Eleanor and Marie who is in one of the photos. If you like historical fiction with an emphasis on the novel, this may be just the thing for you.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is an amazing book. I am a huge historical fiction fan and this book will go down as one of my favorites. Once I started reading I immediately got pulled into the storyline and I became invested in the characters. Ms. Jenoff does a wonderful job in creating her characters. They are memorable and well developed. You grow fond of them and worry about them and you feel like you know them.

This is a well researched fictional story which is based on some real events that occurred during WWII. There are some fascinating notes at the end of the novel. The author also does an exceptional job of switching back and forth between time periods. There are two main time lines which alternate during the war in France in 1944 and New York in 1946.

I won’t give any spoilers here but the story follows a group of women who were recruited by the British government to help the resistance during WWII. There were some parts of the story that had me holding my breath. This story is full of mystery, loyalty, friendship, surprise, heart and betrayal. Fans of historical fiction won’t want to miss this gem.

I would like to thank the publisher, Pam Jenoff and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There's a reason this book is receiving such rave reviews-it's an absolute page turner! I finished it in 24 hours, simply unputdownable!

Although a work of fiction, The Lost Girls of Paris is based on the true life of Vera Atkins and the female British agents of the Special Operations Executive during WWII. This is a fast paced, engaging story that will have you reading into the wee hours of the morning. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review it and to Pam Jenoff for bringing it to life! #TheLostGirlsOfParis #NetGalley

I received an advanced copy of The Lost Girls of Paris from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pam Jenoff's newest historical suspense is centered around three women in the last days of WWII. In 1944, Eleanor Trigg has been tasked by the British SOE to create a team of trained spies, all of whom are women. They will go into the field undercover and report back intelligence about the German soldiers occupying France. One of these spies is radio operator Marie Roux who is sent to a small village just outside Paris to work with a team who is sabotaging the movement of the German army in preparation for D Day. While in France something inside the operation goes horribly wrong as someone has sold out the spy network to the German army who has quickly begun making arrests in the region. Can Marie and her team outwit the German's and survive the betrayal? The third character is, Grace, and in 1946 in New York City she comes across a lost bag containing photographs from the war. She soon learns that the owner of the suitcase is Eleanor and one of the women in the photo's is Marie. While avoiding her own heartbreak, she becomes obsessed with finding out who these women were and what happened to these women.

I was very excited to get a copy of Jenoff's new novel since I was a fan of her previous work, The Orphan's Tale. This is an enjoyable historical novel told from the perspective of the three main characters. The premise is loosely based on a real life team of women who had worked for the SOE in WWII. I would recommend this one because it is full of intrigue, romance and suspense and is an interesting story about a courageous group of women.

The Lost Girls of Paris is historical fiction storytelling at its finest.

It’s 1946 in Manhattan, and Grace Healey is late for work. She is starting over because her husband was killed during the war, and she has to keep this job to make ends meet.

As she rushes to work, things continue to go awry, when she happens upon a suitcase in Grand Central Terminal. Inside are a dozen photographs of women. In a moment of haste, she takes the photos with her.

Grace later learns the suitcase belonged to Eleanor Trigg…And Trigg’s job? Leading a ring of female secret agents in London during the war. They worked carrying messages and operating radios, all in the name of the resistance. However, these women never returned home, and it’s not known why.

Grace is determined to find out what happened to the women, and she is especially inspired by Marie, a young mother. I can’t say more because I don’t want to give anything away about the plot that isn’t already shared in the synopsis.

Gosh! These women were so brave and inspirational, and I’m so grateful Jenoff brought their stories to life. For a well-researched historical fiction title, The Lost Girls of Paris has substantial page-turning suspense. The pace is quick, and the writing is creamy smooth. There are three narrators, and I was invested in all three.

Overall, The Lost Girls of Paris is engaging, intriguing, suspenseful, and well-written. Fans of World War II fiction and wonderful storytelling will not want to miss this book!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

The Lost Girls of Paris is a tale of 3 incredible women set at the end of World War II. Grace is a New Yorker who finds a mysterious suitcase at Grand Central Station filled with photos of women. Across the ocean in England a couple of years before, Eleanor is part of a secretive government operative where she trains and sends women into France to hinder the Nazis. Marie is one of the women who works for her. The beautifully woven story explores the alternate viewpoints of each of the women and their roles in this pre-feminist society.

Like Lilac Girls and the Nightingale, this easily fits into the category of highly successful and recommendable World War II fiction. The plot flowed nicely and the added mystery caused just the right amount of suspense. I fell in love with each of these very strong and brave women and found myself rooting for them. Pam Jenoff is adept at writing historical fiction.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Park Row and Pam Jenoff for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.