The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

Brief Summary: This is the story of the female agents in the Special Operations Executive(SOE) in WWII alternating storylines with Grace in New York after the war, who finds the girls’ photos at Grand Central Station in an abandoned suitcase. I absolutely loved the Orphan’s Tale. I wondered to myself if it would be possible for Pam Jenoff to top that; hold on to your seat because she did!

Highlights: All I can say is wow! I was so absorbed I finished this book in one day. I found the women’s courage inspiring. I could relate to all the heroines who found themselves in unexpected roles but realized they could play a vital role in winning the war. I am absolutely riveted by this story and the role they played in the war. I’m dying to know more; was it based on true people? and did the British Government really act as they were depicted? I’m inspired to visit the SOE monument in London. The alternating storylines and the way they came together was absolutely brilliant! My head is spinning and I can’t stop thinking about Marie, Eleanor, and Grace. I’ve been talking to anyone who would listen to me about this book!

What makes this book unique?: This is incredibly unique among the best WWII fiction. I learned about the SOE, how the agents were selected and trained, and how they were run out of England.

Explanation of Rating: 5/5 I can’t rate this book high enough and would give this book ten if I could! It was an ignore everyone schedule clearing read that engaged and inspired me!

This is simply a must read for historical fiction fans and book clubs. I have already pre-ordered my paper copy and bought a ticket to meet Pam on her tour. Thank you so much for telling the story of these women! I don’t think I will ever forget them!

Thank you to Net Galley and Harlequin for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review

For readers who love historical fiction, this story will not disappoint. It is based on the lives of British female spies during WWII and their missions as they are sent to France to help impede the Nazis. The two timelines intertwined throughout: one focusing on overseas during the war and the other in New York after the war as answers are sought. The book will capture readers from the beginning and will be hard to put down. Highly recommended!

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is a mesmerizing contribution to the growing sub-genre of World War II fiction is focused on the contributions of women to the war effort. During the WWII, the British trained women to serve undercover as radio technicians, and then placed them in German-occupied France. Their job was to allow partisans to communicate with London to get supplies and coordinate the partisan effort. Jenoff focuses her story on three women: the woman who headed the project without recognition, one of the radio transmitters, and a woman, who finds a suitcase in Grand Central Station, and uncovers the story of the “lost girls.”

The story is engrossing, and I raced to the end to finally learn the mysterious puzzle of betrayal, bravery, and survival. There were implausible moments along the way, and characters who behaved contrary to their training and values. Nonetheless, what is truly astounding is that unlike their male counterparts, these young women were sent to war as civilians, without military status and the protection of the Geneva Conventions. When their work was discovered, they were betrayed and marginalized in service to a larger plan.

This is a good solid read just for the story of the program and the courage of the young women who served their country. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Publishers for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Girls of Paris
Pam Jenoff
Jenoff’s (The Orphan’s Tale) latest WWII story is a novel of historical realism, a time capsule that should never be forgotten where evil and good reigned side by side and sometimes those lines were crossed in the name of war. The Lost Girls of Paris is tragic, poignant and reflects the bravery of everyday ordinary citizens of Europe fighting to end the war and the tyranny promised by the Nazi regime giving readers a birds-eye-view of real English women SEO agents sent into harms way. But Pam does something special she not only gives them voices and faces she also gives them heart and makes them more human. The solid gritty plot, fluent dialogue, unforgettable characters and arresting backdrops make this a must read for any WWII, historical or fan of amazing, fantastic literary fiction.
1946 New York City – When Grace Healey finds an envelope full of women’s photos in an abandoned suitcase in Grand Central Station and later learns the owner of the suitcase, a British woman was tragically hit and killed by a car curiosity has her seeking information into who these strangers in the photos were. Little does she know she’d be opening a Pandora’s box full of British wartime secrets.
London, 1943 - Eleanor Trigg, secretary to the director of the covert British intelligence agency, Special Operative Executive (SOE), an illegitimate cousin to MI-6 never would have believed she’d suggest sending women into occupied France to aid the resistance when their male operatives kept disappearing and she sure never would have believed she’d be running it. But that’s exactly what she’s doing, training and preparing these girls to fight the enemy by transmitting messages out right under the Nazis noses, knowing if they’re caught they’d face torture and death and hoping she’s doing the right thing.

The Lost Girls of Paris is a fantastic story that immediately captured my attention. The characters are all amazing and so realistic - I felt connected to all of them. There is also a mystery aspect to the book, which I really enjoyed as well. So glad I got to read this.

Clever and intriguing. Was curious if this was based on a true story, but without an author's note as such, I'm assuming it's all fiction which in many ways made it more interesting to me. Love the cover!

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is a novel with good intentions, but poor execution. The novel follows three women and alternates between their stories.

Grace Healy is a young war widow in 1946 New York. She stumbles across a suitcase in Grand Central Station and feels compelled to open it. Inside she finds photographs of young women in uniform. For some unknown reason she decides to keep the pictures and then finds herself trying to find out their stories. Most of the narrative however seems to dwell on her survivor guilt and her attraction to one of her deceased husband’s best friends.

The two other women in the story are Eleanor Trigg and Marie Roux. It is 1943 and Eleanor, having been made head of the women’s division of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), has recruited Marie for training. Maire is subsequently dropped into France where her mission is to send and receive radio transmissions about the Allies and the French Resistance.

Jenoff never seems to make clear the motivations of these three women and the women never develop into three-dimensional characters. Marie especially falls far short of the true heroines that she is supposed to represent. Almost immediately upon reaching France she falls for her contact, a man named “Vesper”. Despite the training she has received Marie is ready to betray her mission and her country for the man she loves.
Throughout this novel there is more emphasis on implausible romances rather than the actual history of the brave women who risked their lives in the SOE.

Sadly, this novel seems sloppy, poorly researched and many times completely unrealistic.

I had a really hard time getting into this one, because I think I had different expectations for what it was going to be. I thought this was going to go into the lives of the women spies, their training, and all the super duper scary spy stuff they did, but we only got a little bit of that. This is much more about the relationships and romances of the women.

This book follows three women, Grace, Eleanor, & Marie. Not long after WWII ends, Grace finds a suitcase at a bus terminal with pictures of female spies. Then we learn about Eleanor, in the middle of WWII, who convinces her boss to have her lead a spy training program for women. That leads us to Marie, one of the women recruited to work in a spy network in France because her French is impeccable. I was really hoping we'd get a lot more information about their training and their missions, but instead we didn't get that.

With Grace, she's dealing with the loss of her husband and some feelings she has for a friend of his, so most of her storyline is about this. Yes, she finds these pictures and she does some research to figure out who they are, but that almost felt secondary to information about Grace. I started skimming the Grace chapters to find things relevant to the spies because Grace wasn't all that interesting to me.

Then we have Eleanor chapters, and much of hers are about her relationships with her boss and her worrying about the girls out in the field and whether or not their spy ring has been infiltrated by the enemy. Her chapters were much more interesting, but I still wanted more spy stuff.

So my hopes were all in the Marie chapters, the actual spy of this book, and we do get some spy stuff with her, but we also get some lovey dovey stuff she has with a guy who treats her like crap, so instantly I wasn't really into this romance. This romance also made for some bad scenes of things like he did this for her and she did this for him because they're in love. Blerg.

I really wanted lots of spy stuff with this, so my expectations were different than what I was reading. For people who want some fluffy historical fiction set in WWII with some romance, this is the perfect book for them, but it just wasn't what I thought this was going to be. So chalk up my so-so review of this for my expectations being off from the beginning, not necessarily for what this book is.

I am so disappointed in this book! Where I thought I was going to read about brave strong women helping to win the war, instead I got a story featuring: a woman who steals pictures and then military documents, another woman who knowingly sends unprepared women into a war and then ignores OBVIOUS signs that there are problems, and finally a women who is trained, knows her training, and then ignores it. Several times I either rolled my eyes or wanted to yell at the author. Such a failed opportunity! I can not in good conscious recommend this book.

A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

You don’t call it a World War unless the war affects almost everyone in the world. That is why there seems to be pockets of stories about WWII which we might not have heard about before now. One of the most fascinating secrets from the 1940’s is the subversive activities of the British. The SOE (Special Operations Executive) in charge of espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in Occupied Europe was sometimes referred to as the Baker Street Irregulars (based on their location which is infamously connected to Sherlock Holmes). Also colloquially known as Churchill’s Secret Army, this government organization not only used men, but also had a special Section F which trained and sent women into the field at a time when women were mainly considered as auxiliary units. 55 female agents were sent out as radio operators and couriers with 13 being killed in action, many who died in concentration camps. Their expectations included unarmed combat but they were also trained to use weapons. Once the war was over, the SOE was disbanded. Unfortunately, since these women were not enlisted soldiers, they didn’t get the recognition their male counterparts received. It wasn’t until recently that well deserved medals have been awarded and even then the women had to jump through hoops to prove they deserved this honor.

In her research of this scenario, Pam Jenoff discovered a treasure trove of drama both on and off the field to include in her historical novel, The Lost Girls of Paris. There was secret love, bravery, courageous actions, questionable decisions, rogue behaviors, personal sacrifice, and finally betrayal, all packed into a relatively brief period of time.

To portray these events, Jenoff chose to follow the lives of three women. The book begins in early 1946, shortly after the war had ended, where American Grace Healey, a young war widow, accidentally finds a suitcase left under a bench in Grand Central Station. Opening it to take a peak inside she pulls out an envelope with twelve labeled photographs each featuring a different girl. Her determined quest to uncover the whys and wherefores behind this discovery is a running theme throughout the book.

Next we meet Eleanor Trigg, the one in charge of the secret female agents who were sent to France with their radios to decipher and transmit coded messages to assist the success of the French Resistance and clear the way for the anticipated arrival of American Troops. This time frame in 1944 included the weeks leading up to D Day in Normandy where the importance of their work superseded everything, including the safety of those in the field. Trigg, feeling responsible for the girls she recruited, kept watch over their activities and wanted answers when anything went awry.

Finally, there is Marie Roux, a single mom, whose motivation for taking on this task is questionable. While fluent in French, there were certain aspects of her character which made her a less than stellar candidate for the position, despite the extensive training she and the other women endured. Yet she still was called to duty and sent to France, expected to execute orders without question (even though following orders was not her strong suit). Through Marie we get into the nitty gritty of espionage, with undercover air flights, hidden radios, and sabotage, all while hiding in plain sight despite the ever present Germans literally living next door. Spoiler Alert: Not everything runs smoothly.

Pam Jenoff, known for the novel The Orphan’s Tale as well as other stories based on WWII and the Holocaust, has found another tale which highlights the heroic role of women during wartime. Parts of this novel were fascinating but despite the fact that it was inspired by real events, some of the details seemed too far fetched to pass the smell test. Even if true, the complexities of the situation were so simplified as to be ridiculous at times which took away from the seriousness of the situation. However, the plot quickly flowed through the eyes of the three women and the reader can’t help rooting for their eventual success despite the reality that when it comes to war there isn’t always a big bow to wrap up a happily ever after ending. The best we can hope for is a couple of colorful ribbons.

Three and a half stars and a thank you to Edelweiss and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review also appears on my blog, Gotta Read:

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I was looking forward to The Lost Girls of Paris and I was not disappointed. I had read Kate Quinn's The Alice Network and many years ago, I had come across a book The Spy Wore Red, by Aline, Countess of Romanones. It's based on her years as an American spy for the OSS during WWII. I've always had a fascination with espionage, especially female. Ms. Jenoff's tale is a real page turner. I liked the dual timeline. Grace in post war NYC who stumbles upon an abandoned suitcase at Grand Central which leads to the girls and their story of going from being mothers, secretaries, orphans, daughters, and sisters to being behind enemy lines in Occupied France as radio operators, bomb detonators, and couriers. The story of the girls focuses on Marie who speaks French, having had a French mother, who trains to become a radio operator. Marie is very introspective and harbors plenty of her own secrets, but shows her strength and intelligence when faced with life and death scenarios in Occupied France. Eleanor Trigg was an interesting contrast as a leader of the girls. She's hard on them, has high expectations and yet, she goes to the bitter end to find her girls when their cover is compromised. This part of history needs to be told and I'm glad authors are now doing so. The bravery these women showed is every bit as heroic as the men. Thank you for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

SO GOOD! Wow, The Lost Girls of Paris was wonderful. Fast moving plot, great characters and unexpected mystery. An important tribute to the brave women, whom were placed in Nazi occupied France during WW2, to transmit messages to back London, helping with the war efforts, and making tremendous personal sacrifices. I loved it, this book was very hard to put down! Thank you NetGalley for the early reader edition. All opinions are my own.

The Lost Girls of Paris is a gripping and emotional novel about the female operatives sent into occupied France during the second World War. Sent as radio operators, but they became so much more to the French resistance and the Allies, until someone sabotaged their missions which led to their deaths.

I stayed up way past my bedtime two nights in a row to finish and find out who turned on them. And it was a shocking, but realistic ending. The author told the story between three points of view: Marie, one of the radio operators deployed in the country, Eleanor, the woman in charge of the girls back in London, and Grace, a woman who happens across the girls' photos a few years after the war. The transitions between these ladies heightened the suspense of the book. Eleanor, Marie and Grace were wonderful characters and I found myself cheering for all of them to succeed in their different callings.

This is one of my favorite books this year so far! If you are a fan of the Lilac Girls or the Nightingale, this is the new book for you.

Pam Jenoff does no wrong in my eyes. Her books are not usually the type pf book I read. They always keep me interested and the writing is always amazing.

I received a copy of The Lost Girls of Paris back in October from NetGalley. Honestly, I requested the novel because I was hoping to delve into Historical Fiction, and as mentioned above I loved the look of the clock on the cover. (I definitely judged the book by its cover).

In keeping with the idea that I received this as an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC), I am really hoping that this book underwent further revision before being sent to print — or I hope that I received an older version of the book before it had been finalized. There were more than a handful of spelling errors in major parts of the book.

Marie and Josie’s name were spelled incorrectly several times throughout the book — and they are main characters!
“They didn’t touch but he held her hand firmly in his.” Doesn’t that mean that they are touching? Does Julian holding Marie’s hand not mean that they are touching?
“Only she had been following this for so intently…” This statement is definitely missing a handful of words which takes away from the meaning of the sentence.
There was wildly incorrect punctuation and grammar.
With that being said, I loved the storyline and it met all of my hopes and dreams for the image that was portrayed on the cover. In a time when we only think about the men going to war during World War 2, this story was a reminder that women fought for freedom too. Women did more than stay home and protect the children; they went out to the war zones and acted as translators and radio operators.

The Lost Girls of Paris takes place on a dual-timeline.

First there is Grace Healey in New York City in 1946. Grace is working with refugees at a lawyers office while trying to cope with the recent loss of her husband in a freak accident when she comes across a suitcase in Grand Central that contains photographs of young women. After taking them from the suitcase, she returns to try and replace them but the suitcase is gone. She later finds out that the suitcase is owned by an Eleanor Trigg who ran the group of women agents during WW2.

Flashback to London during WW2, we are introduced to Marie who is selected to be part of this secret group of women due to her flawless French. During the intense training, we meet Josie — a young women of just 17 who empowers Marie to keep pushing forward with her training. Both women are sent into France to provide assistance to the resistance and block the Germans. They help to coordinate weapons drops and blow up bridges until it all goes wrong…

The errors that were in the copy that I received really took away from how much I enjoyed the book. I became so focused on seeing the errors that I have to take away a star from what would’ve been a five star review.

3.5 stars

I love reading historical fiction! I always learn something and appreciate the mounds of research an author does in order to provide accuracy. This book about a group of British women recruited to help the military during WW2 was a story I was not familiar with. And while it's a fascinating and enjoyable story, it just didn't hold my attention as much as I would like. But for fans of historical fiction, it's worth a read even though it is slow in spots.

When Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase in Grand Central Station in 1946, she begins a search to find out why there are a dozen photos of women inside the suitcase. Her biggest struggles are figuring out how and who they should be given to for safe keeping and why were the pictures there in the first place. With this scene at Grand Central Station, I believe Pam Jenoff sets up the mystery quite well from the get go. Jenoff alternates her novel between the past (during the war years) and 1946 to help build suspense and interest in the lives of all of her main characters. The war years of the book mostly focus on Marie, a young woman who is recruited by Eleanor Trigg. Eleanor is the leader of a group of female secret agents who are trained as secret agents and then sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators. Marie is sent to France as a radio operator for the French Resistance and immediately realizes how dangerous of a situation she has gotten herself into as she literally has to send messages under the noses of nearby Germans. I thought the plot line of this book was very intriguing and loved learning about how brave men and women helped with the war effort. I haven't read a Pam Jenoff book that I haven't liked and this book is no exception. Other readers who enjoy historical fiction set in WWII will enjoy this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book before its publication date. All thoughts expressed in this review are my honest opinions of the book.

I’m torn! I hate admitting that when reviewing an author I admire as much as Pam Jenoff, but I have genuinely mixed feelings about The Lost Girls of Paris.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I want to say that I liked this story. Jenoff is hardly the first author to tackle the valor and bravery of WWII’s female spies but I feel the marks she hits, particularly those pertaining to operational politics, differentiate her work from the likes of Hannah’s The Nightingale, Quinn’s The Alice Network, and/or Wein’s Code Name Verity.

Jenoff has a knack for illustrating deep human emotion and I think this story allowed her to showcase that strength in a new and refreshing way. Jenoff’s work usually incorporates a romantic element and while The Lost Girls of Paris is no exception, the story is more heavily rooted in the bonds of female friendship than it is the amorous affections of starry-eyed lovers.

Having said this, I have to admit to not understanding Jenoff’s decision to use three narrators. I liked Eleanor a great deal and developed a certain appreciation for Marie, but I struggled beginning to end with Grace. This reality created an imbalance in the fabric of the narrative and often made it difficult for me to stay engaged in the plot.

My biggest issue, however, was the story’s lack of oomph. The Lost Girls of Paris is a lovely piece that touches on some very compelling subject matter, but I don’t feel the themes of the narrative landed as soundly as those of The Orphan’s Tale. I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but Jenoff’s 2017 release delivered an emotional sucker punch that left me reeling for weeks and I think it fair to say that my experience of that story overshadowed my reading of this one.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is the fictional tale of women who were recruited and trained to become spies in Europe during WWII. It is a tale of incredible courage and fortitude in the face of overwhelming odds. Though the tale is fictional it is based on the fact that there were women that were spies during WWII.
This story starts in the U.S. shortly after the war is over. Grace Healey, a war widow herself, finds a suitcase in Grand Central station in New York City. She can’t resist the urge to open it and look through its contents. She finds a group of pictures of young women and this intrigues her. On a whim she takes the pictures and returns the suitcase to its hiding spot under a bench.
She becomes obsessed with finding out who the suitcase belonged to and who the women are in the pictures. As she works to gather information, the reader is introduced to Eleanor Trigg. Eleanor runs the organization in England that recruits, trains and handles women spies in German occupied Europe. Eleanor recruits a young single mother Marie Roux who is later sent to France as a radio operator for the French resistance. As Grace slows finds all the puzzle pieces and fits them together we see what really happened to these women.
My favorite thing about this book is the strong, resourceful, women characters the author has presented us. We normally think of women during WWII as entering the work force for the first time and doing men’s jobs in factories that would normally have been considered male only job. We tend to forget that women did play vital roles during WWII.
The story is told from three POVs, Grace, Eleanor and Marie. The author made sure the plot was seamless despite the changing POVs throughout. There was not tons of character development but there was enough to fit the plot. At first I thought this might be a flaw, but I in retrospect I think the author did this so on purpose. She gave us enough to connect to the characters but not enough to overwhelm the reader and bog down the plot.
The pace of the plot was good and there was plenty of intrigue to keep the reader turning the pages. I was hooked early on in the story and I wanted to see what actually happened. I also liked how everything wrapped up at the end. I wish I could elaborate further; yet, I don’t want to spoil the story for others. Let me just say that how the government handled things was spot on to what happens in real life.
I know from other books that the life expediency of a spy during WWII was very short. Therefore, the only thing I disliked about the story was the decisions made by Marie. I felt she was overly reckless and even a little naïve. Who would go off and become a spy knowing the odds of dying are very high and thus leaving a young child without a mother.
I highly recommend this book for readers of both Historical Fiction and WWII stories. I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I have been finding myself being drawn more and more to historical fiction, this book was beautifully written and drew me into every characters life. The author did an amazing job twisting each characters story line and winding them all together and it just took my breath away. The background of this book is historical fiction about woman working with the SOE as spies during World War Two. Eleanor Trigg is the woman who recruited and ran a ring of female agents, she is one of three woman included in this book. Eleanor is a very brave woman she would do anything for her agents and she can stand her own in a mans world.
Marie is a female recruit in Eleanor’s agency. She’s a single mother whose on her own and is interested in her job by the money it would pay her. When she signed up she was not fully aware all the dangers the job would consist of. She soon finds herself in Paris spying on German soldiers and transmitting intel back to London to Eleanor and the other agents.
Grace a recent widow her husband died in a Jeep accident during training for the war. While walking to work one day she stumbles on an abandoned suitcase at the scene of an accident. While opening the suitcase she discovers twelve pictures of woman. Soon she finds herself diving into the lives of of Eleanor and Marie while attempting to return the contents of the suitcase and discover what happened to the twelve woman whose pictures she’s holding. The book alternates from past and present. Present is Grace during 1946 investigating the photos. Past is Eleanor and Marie which shows training and recruitment and spying. I loved this book and it had me craving more! Highly recommend I give this book five glorious stars!