This is why I love read nonfiction especially since story brings to life the story of a woman who fright for what she believed in , all the time knowing her was could end at any given moment. The author does amazing job tell it as well as showing that they did their research, .

There have been a number of recent books focusing on the critical role women played in WWII. They are a welcome addition to the abundance of books that have historically centered on the role of men during the war. Reading about these courageous women is a welcome treat and is applauded for finally giving women the credit they so richly deserve for their acts of heroism.

Madame Fourcade is one of the most important women who figured strongly in the efforts of spies in France. She coordinated a network of intelligence agents who were critical in providing key pieces of information on the numbers, locations and plans of the enemy. Many of her assets were caught and even killed and her own life was continually in danger, forcing her to relocate her base of operations on a regular basis.

This nonfiction book is the result of thorough research. The cast of people who worked with Fourcade over the years is striking and Olson gives a helpful list of these characters at the beginning of the book. The impact of Fourcade’s spy network was critical in defeating Germany and she richly deserves the attention this book brings to her and her colleagues. Readers who are interested in the important contributions of women in WWII will also want to read Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon and The Rose Code and The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

This was a good enjoyable read. In my personal collection I don't think I'd be interested in purchasing it as it was a little dry for my taste, but I thought all the historical details and information was fantastic.

If you love history and especially WWII this book is for you.
Well written and researched.
Thank you netgalley, the publisher and author for this great read.
Recommend

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson was an EXCELLENT read, and a stunningly amazing TRUE account of a World War II heroine who had a powerful impact on history as we know it. It was engagingly written for the most part, beautifully researched and documented, and had an impressive bibliography at the end—nonfiction writing at its best. I HIGHLY recommend it!

Who was Madam Fourcade and why should we be interested in reading about her? The author says, “How could one not be fascinated by the story of this cultured young woman from a well-connected family who had dreams of becoming a concert pianist but ended up as arguably the greatest wartime spymaster in Europe?”

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade’s prewar description is that of a “chic blond Parisienne” and “a woman born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamor” and the mother of two young children.

In 1940, after the German occupation of France, Fourcade joins the French Resistance. “In 1941, at the age of thirty-one, she became la patronne—the boss—of what would emerge as the largest and most important Allied intelligence network in occupied France. Throughout the war, it supplied the British and American high commands with vital German military secrets, including information about troop movements; submarine sailing schedules; fortifications and coastal gun emplacements; and the Reich’s new terror weapons, the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket. Over the course of the conflict, Fourcade, the only woman to head a major resistance network in France, commanded some three thousand agents, who infiltrated every major port and sizable town in the country. They came from all segments of society—military officers, government clerks, architects, shopkeepers, fishermen, housewives, doctors, artists, plumbers, students, bus drivers, priests, members of the aristocracy, and France’s most celebrated child actor.”

For a long time, the British M16 who she worked closely with and supplied lots of intelligence to had no idea she was a woman. This was true in France as well. “Because she was a woman,” Olson writes, she knew she would be underestimated, “a miscalculation on which she was determined to capitalize.”

Besides running the resistance network, you will be amazed by some of her personal exploits. Fourcade had to disguise her appearance and move constantly as the war intensified to avoid being apprehended by the Gestapo. Sometimes she was more successful than others. Once she had to stuff herself inside a Vichy mailbag to get smuggled across the French-Spanish border. Another time she was jailed but escaped from jail by stripping to her underwear, clamping her summer dress between her teeth and squeezing between the boards nailed across the window of her cell.

The Allied victory in Europe could not have happened as successfully without the intelligence that Fourcade and her operatives supplied at key points between 1941 and 1945 at great risk to their lives.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for helping me to learn about this important part of World War II history through the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it. Publication date: March 5, 2019.

Well researched and a great read! I highly recommend for all lovers of history. This is a story that needs to be told.

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War is the non-fiction account of a well-to-do French woman’s involvement during occupied France in World War II as a leader in France’s largest spy network against the Nazi’s, called “Alliance” (or Noah’s Ark, which is what the Nazi’s called them).

Fourcade and her agents were complete amateurs in the spy game and yet they risked their lives over and over to courier information to Britain that would eventually help the allies win the war. Some of the intel that Alliance provided included maps of where German troops were laying down traps for the allies, plans of missiles and rockets that were being built by the Germans, as well as hordes of other information.

This is one non-fiction book where I was sitting on the edge of my seat because I was genuinely stressed out for the people involved. The author did a fantastic job of bringing the dangers of the war to life and portraying the triumphs and follies of the Alliance agents.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII, and especially anyone interested in a figure not much has been written about. If you enjoyed Hidden Figures, you’d probably enjoy this one as well.

I received a digital review copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. So glad that I finally got to it.

"Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler" eBook was published in 2019 and was written by Lynne Olson (http://www.lynneolson.com). Ms. Olson has published seven books. 

I categorize this book as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. 

This is the story of thirty-one-year-old Marie-Madeleine Fourcade. This young French woman became the only woman to lead a resistance unit in occupied France. She sent away her children to live with friends so that she could direct one of the most effective espionage rings operating in France. Her unit knows as Alliance, operated until well after D-Day. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 10.5 hours I spent reading this 421-page biography and history. I thought this was an interesting story of WWII French resistance. I like the selected cover art. I give this book a 4.2 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

As I've read many, many books dedicated to the World wars, I find myself asking why I have never heard of Madame Fourcade before? It's obvious to any reader that Lynne Olson has dedicated a great deal of time to research and has done an excellent job of bringing her characters to life on the page. A non fiction book that can stand up against any fictional tale today. The story is engrossing, the writing excellent. I enjoyed this book so much it is hard to move to the next title on my TBR pile. The description on the cover builds up expectations and the author certainly delivers. I'm really surprised there has not been a movie made about this character.

The untold story of resistance leader Marie-Madeleine Fourcade. She helped create and run one of the biggest resistance groups, in France, during World War II. The group was called Alliance and they provided critical information before, during, and after D-Day. A true eye opener. This book reads like fiction but it's a true story.

Fabulous nonfiction about a true heroine of WWII, who fought the Nazis by leading a secret resistance group in occupied France!! Phenomenal writing and amazing story of inspiration heroics!
I loved the personality of Madame F!
Madame Fourcade is one of the most heroic women you’ve probably never heard of in the history of World War II. A spy for the Allies and the only female chief of the French Resistance, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade ran the Alliance network in France from 1941-1945. In Lynne Olson’s Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Olson presents a first-hand account of Madame Fourcade’s successful career in espionage and gives us the true story of a truly daring woman.
Using the Alliance network to defeat the Nazis required Madame Fourcade to harness her femininity to keep her enemies confused and to avoid capture. No one in the Gestapo apparently imagined that a woman could run a resistance network; thus, this 31-year-old mother and aristocrat was able to escape notice. “Because she was a woman,” Olson writes, she knew she would be underestimated — “a miscalculation on which she was determined to capitalize.”
Fourcade “had a candid face and a childish silhouette, with her fair hair falling to her shoulders, but she also had the spirit of a secret agent ready to do anything.” As was true of other French Resistance networks, Alliance found that women “were particularly successful when acting as couriers… were young and attractive… and used their charm and guileless appearance to talk their way out of ticklish encounters with German and French police and security officials.”
Madame Fourcade not only helped the British, MI6 and the American military through her intelligence work but also countless men and women who suffered during the Nazi occupation of France. Her network used informative spies in everyday roles — mail carriers, seamstresses, vegetable sellers — to spy on the German military and provide intelligence to MI6. Using agent code names like “hedgehog,” which inspired the Gestapo to name her agency “Noah’s Ark,” Fourcade defied the secret police and managed her network until 1945.
Olson focuses on how uniquely suited Fourcade was to be the inconspicuous head of Alliance. The suspense in Olson’s book builds as Fourcade repeatedly risks her life to keep the Alliance network in tact. Smuggled across the border, bent in half in a mail bag, Fourcade always protected her agents while staying in contact with MI6, providing important information to help defeat the Nazis. She even sacrificed her personal life with her children, spending years away from them.
“In my network,” said Fourcade, “no woman ever faltered, even under the most extreme kinds of torture. I owe my freedom to many who were questioned until they lost consciousness, but never revealed my whereabouts, even when they knew exactly where I was.” For all of Fourcade’s sacrifices and achievements — as well as those of the other women in her Alliance — we owe a debt of gratitude.

Author Lynne Olson does a remarkable job shining a spotlight on Marie-Madeleine Fourcade's leadership of Alliance, one of France's most successful Resistance groups during World War II. Marie-Madeleine hid her gender from all but a few key leaders, due to the general belief of the time that only a man could do such demanding and skillful work. Even today in France her name is left off monuments to war heroes. She was denied the highest honors accorded to men who served under her.

The book recounts not only Fourcade's role in the Resistance, but also the stories of a number of Fourcade's operatives, with photos of some. I found the stories fascinating and I was heart broken to read that so many were killed in the final days of the war, when Germans knew Allied forces were only days away from freeing prisoners.
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I highly recommend this non-fiction account that is filled with facts, but never dry reading. I thank Random House for providing an e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was disappointing. All of the blogs I read advertised it as historical fiction. Being unfamiliar with Lynne Olson's prior works, I didn't know that characterization was inaccurate. This is most definitely nonfiction. While the subject of the book has a captivating story and an interesting life, it wasn't really what I was looking to read at the moment. For a work of nonfiction, kudos to the author for making it is more like a story that a dry recounting of the facts.

I have decided that I will pretty much read anything Lynne Olson writes. She makes history completely fascinating. Madame Fourcade's Secret War* is just as interesting as her previous books. Marie-Madeleine Fourcade led the largest spy network in France during WWII. She was only thirty-one, she was female, and she was beautiful. It sounds a bit like the beginning of a blockbuster movie but Fourcade was ferociously intelligent and had nerves of steel. This was real life. Her spies provided vital intelligence to British and American forces and many lost their lives in the process. By the end of the war, Fourcade was in command of 3000 men and women. Surprisingly, few people have heard of her. Maybe Olson's book will change that. I highly recommend this. I already have another of Olson's books on my shelf waiting for me.

What a wealth of research went into this non-fiction account of a very brave and little known French woman. Like so many people, she started out “wanting to do something” but not having a clue what to do or how to do it. Quite surprisingly she was incorporated into a burgeoning spy network and soon designated their leader. None of them had a clue as to what to do nor how to do it so it was a matter of feeling their way, sometimes with tragic consequences.

The descriptions put the reader right into the story, into the pain and tragedies of the moment. Reading about the bravery and sacrifices of ordinary people caught up in the maelstrom, the reader could almost taste and smell the particular scenes.

This book was exceptionally well written, not just about its advertised heroine, but about the multitude of people and events affected at the time and effecting the future.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Random House, in exchange for an honest review. This review will be published immediately on GoodReads and after release on Amazon and at publiclibrary.cc, the Public Library of Anniston and Calhoun Co (Alabama).
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An astounding story!

All I can say is Shame! Shame! Shame! Why has there been no over-the-top acknowledgment of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade? This woman masterminded the biggest spy ring across the length and breadth of occupied France during World War II. She controlled thousands of agents. Yet shockingly, no bright light has shone on her stupendous achievements and sacrifice for her country.
Hopefully Olson's novel will begin to rectify that.
Olson's research is outstanding. Her adherence to complexity and detail and the Bibliography gives weight to this.
But back to my opening question. Olson's 'Author's Notes' do give some guidance as to why there was a lack of recognition to the actions of women in these times. Amongst the reasons are the complexity of French politics after the war and post war ideas on the role of women. Further to that, "For several decades following the war, histories of the French resistance, which were written almost exclusively by men, largely ignored the contributions of women."
Hopefully a new era is opening up for these unsung women heroes.
Whilst the narrative could have been tighter the story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade is amazing. My heart was frequently in my mouth at some of the situations Fourcade found herself in.
In addition I loved the cover. It's brilliant! Those darkened rough stoned buildings looming behind the woman as she walks down a narrow lane, vividly portrays an aura of brooding and hovering menace. In shaded grayish overtones it subtly elicits atmospheric references to the dangerous maze of deception and counter deception Fourcade and her precious Alliance members negotiated a path through.
This is well worth the read! For any World War II aficionados, a must read!!

A Random House ARC via NetGalley

This book took a few trys to finish. I started it during a migraine and read four chapters before falling asleep for 19 hours and forgetting what I had read. So, I started over. I think it is best described as a slow starter that picks up pace as you read. I really enjoyed the book and would love more from this genre and author.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War is an epic journey into the little-known resistance movements that operated in France during WWII.

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was from a prominent and wealthy French family. When Germany invaded France in 1940, she was in her early 30s, a mother of two and estranged from her husband. Rather than flee to safety, Madame Fourcade stayed in France and spent the rest of the war serving in the resistance movement. She became the leader of the Alliance – the largest and one of the most successful French underground intelligence networks in the country. The Alliance members, some of whom were women, gathered information and relayed it to British intelligence, thus making invaluable contributions to the war efforts.

The research that went into the writing of this book is astounding. Lynne Olson used a variety of sources to tell the story of this remarkable organization and its leader. At times the reader might feel somewhat overwhelmed with the large of number of participants she mentions, but Ms Olson deftly keeps her readers on track and tells the story of courage, determination and hope. In the end, it is a testament to the resilience of the people of France and their efforts to defeat the German invaders.

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

This account of an amazingly brave woman who stepped out of her expected societal role to aide the allies during WWII was unputdownable. ' Lynne Olson's writing style brings the past to life. I read an advanced digital review copy through NetGalley.

When you think of the French Resistance movement in World War II, images of spies, individuals blowing up bridges, and committing other subversive acts to help defeat Nazi Germany come to mind. The woman who was the head of the Alliance, the most famous French resistance organization, probably does not come to mind. Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler will definitely change that!

This marvelous book chronicles Madame Fourcade's involvement in the Alliance from the beginning of the war until its end and beyond. Author Lynne Olson does provide some background information at the beginning of the book which helps to answer the important questions of why and how Madame Fourcade, also know as Marie-Madeleine, was asked to take on this important role. Throughout the pages, the reader is introduced to many individuals with whom Marie Madeleine interacted with during the course of the war. The large number of individuals mentioned throughout the book demonstrate the vastness of the Alliance and how involved the French citizens were in the war. While reading of the numerous spies, readers will rejoice at their victories and weep for those who were caught. While reading I had to frequently remind myself that the events portrayed were true and not fiction. Marie-Madeleine's life, and those of the other spies you meet in these pages, is a wonderful reminder that people are much stronger than we think and will rise to the challenge set before them.

Madame Fourcade's Secret War is recommended for a variety of readers. Anyone who enjoys reading and studying World War II will want to add to their shelf. Anyone who enjoy spy stories will want to read this as well. If you are seeking the story of a remarkable but little know woman, Madame Fourcade's Secret War fits the description. I had not encountered author Lynne Olson's works previously but will be seeking out her other works which primarily focus on World War II.