The book begins in 1952 and the aftermath of WWII , when America was bringing Nazi scientists to the US to thwart the Russians getting them. The book made me very angry, and the character of Josie and her dilemma of helping them come even though she had been a prisoner at Ravensbruck helped assuage my anger somewhat.
Back and forth in time as well as chapters seen through the eyes of several characters, Kelly brings both the time periods to life in a somewhat terrifying way. This is more of a thriller than her previous books and the villains are sometimes a surprise. Knowing that some if the historical characters "got away with" little punishment is what provokes anger in the reader. There are several good twists and the ending implies a future story. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC..

The Golden Doves is a story of two women, Arlette and Josie, who are resistance fighters and survivors of Ravensbrück.

I really appreciated the details of Ravensbrück. I hadn't read about this camp exclusively, and the details are heartbreaking. I also had never heard of Operation Paperclip, which was a program to bring Nazi scientists to the US to work and keep them from working for the Russians. I found the moral ramifications of this program to be very thought provoking.

I have read other books by Martha Hall Kelly, so I knew that I was going in to. However, this one was just a bit too gritty for me. I found that I felt very little connection with Josie or Arlette. Their actions after the war just don't match their personalities or personal beliefs. It just didn't seem likely that their characters would behave the way they did. I also struggled with the dual timelines until about a third of the way into the book, when things cleared up a bit.

The research and the information in this book were fascinating, I just wasn't a fan of the characters or their actions.

Thank you to Random House Ballantine, NetGalley, and Martha Hall Kelly for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

A historical thriller novel set during WWII, yes sign me up!

Truly thrilling. Many brave men and women truly risked everything during this war. Although this is mainly fiction, the author did her research and paints a picture of what many were willing to do to help others. This risks taken were truly astounding .

Loved this one and highly recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

Josie and Arlette were partners during Germany's occupation of France and are still best friends, despite living an ocean apart. Both has emotional scars from the war and scores to settle and they may just get their chance.

The Golden Doves
Martha Hall Kelly
Ballantine Books
April 18, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow! Where to begin? This book is a must-read for historical fiction lovers. It’s long, but it NEEDS to be long. It tells the story of two women, Josie and Arlette, who work as spies in the anti-Nazi underground. They are so good at their jobs, they are dubbed the “golden doves.”

With an international web of intrigue, Kelly weaves a story that has to be told. The horrors of the concentration camps, the escape of Nazis to the US and South America, the children starved in their mothers’ arms, the horror of it all is dealt with honesty and respect (where deserved). Kelly did her research and it makes the novel work.

I highly recommend this book. It’s important to remember.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was an incredible and heart wrenching story. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves to read about WW2 historical fiction. Great story and believable characters.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.I read a LOT of historical fiction, but this is the first book based on the Nazi doctors who basically escaped punishment after WWII. A fascinating story about real life scary events. The POV is two young women who both helped the Resistance during the war.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Having read the author’s previous book, The Lilac Girls (Part 1), I had great expectations for this book. While the author’s writing remains superb and the book is well-researched, this one was a bit of a miss for me.

If you have never heard of Operation Paperclip or Ravensbrück, I would suggest you read up on those subjects first. Operation Paperclip is beyond believable, and Ravensbrück is heartbreaking.

The plot of The Golden Doves touches on both subjects, but not as masterfully as The Lilac Girls. The Golden Doves are the two main characters, Josie and Arlette. Working together as spies for the resistance during World War II, they are captured and imprisoned at Ravensbrück. The story is told from their perspectives, from both time in the camp and in 1952, when they are again involved with hunting Nazis who escaped justice. The author’s writing moves seamlessly from one character and timeline to the next.

So, why wasn’t I particularly drawn into the story? First, both characters are strong, but Josie’s personality traits just didn’t ring true with her objectives. Josie is working for the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, which stretched my imagination from the opening pages of the book. She is in charge of intake interviews, etc. for the scientists involved in the operation, yet with every fiber of her being she wants to kill them with her bare hands. Although she does it with disdain and animosity, could someone really do that job day in and day out? Perhaps that is why she drinks, a lot. Josie is inexperienced and is sloppy at her job even when sober. When she returns to the field, her inability to control her emotions or listen to reason renders her incapable of completing her tasks. For someone the author wants us to believe is strong and capable, she ends up the damsel in distress with a man to save her too many times. Second, the plot devolves into science fiction which just seemed to devalue the actual history. I debated about this point as the whole Nazi regime and final solution seems far-fetched, yet it happened. Who am I to say that this part of the plot could never happen? Or didn’t happen? I have a hard time processing the atrocities that one group of people inflicted on others. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the number of people involved in such abominations. But it happened. So, maybe truth could be stranger than fiction and it is a possibility, and that is why it was so unsettling to me.

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Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Publication: April 18, 2023

This was an amazing read and so full of historical details! As someone who has read a lot of WW2 novels, I love finding books that focus on other main events within the historical genre. I loved that this book focused on the years right after WW2 and Operation Paperclip.

Kelly's book really gave me everything I wanted within a historical novel- heroines that try to work through their issues, mystery/unknown, and so much historical details.

The only thing that hindered this for me as a reader was that there were parts where we are expected to know the past. It felt as if this book was a sequel and I missed important parts. It felt a little jarring but didn't take away from the storyline.

Mark your calendars if you're ready for an amazing historical novel that takes place right after WW2!

I find myself drawn to books which are both enlightening and provide a learning experience. I have found author, Martha Hall Kelly, to be unbeatable in her story telling. Previous works, beginning with The Lilac Girls , revealed the atrocities of WWII and the inhumanity of the Nazi regime. History informs, but sadly, there are omissions, falsehoods, misrepresentations and incomplete stories. The Golden Doves, a pair of determined women brought together under unusual circumstances, shed a brilliant light upon their tenacity. The story began as most WWII fiction does, presenting and defining the European theater, the harshness and dangers of daily life of the 1940s. Further reading by this baby boomer brought me to my knees. One blithely assumes VJ Day was synonymous with resumption of normality. The clandestine efforts to continue the manipulations and extinction of a single ethnicity. I had no idea that into the 1950s, experimentation on humans including young children still happened. I was oblivious to the gross number of German expats who escaped punishment by resettling in South America and whose descendants may still be devoted to the same criminality.. The Golden Doves is a brilliantly written novel, telling a most difficult story. Extremely informative and highly recommended.

Unlike the previous books by Kelly, this one was a bit slower for me to get into. Maybe it was the characters, or maybe it was the fact that I went into the book expecting them to be at Ravensbrück. This book was, in fact, more about the two main characters outside of the prison camp. In the present day, looking for people; and then in the pas, leading up to their imprisonment. I think that it was a good thing that the book was set up this way in the end, because we had already had a lot of the camp from the Lilac Girls. It still didn't stop me from waiting for a crossover.

Once I accepted that the bulk of the story would take place outside Ravensbrück, I was able to settle in for a good and interesting read about two characters who took a stand and tried to do what was right. The whole situation in French Guiana stank of something underhanded, so it surprised me that the two main characters were not as savvy as me, the reader, in figuring things out sooner. And there were definitely some loose ends, not only with the cliffhanger ending, because we didn't find out a few things about main characters that I felt would have helped round out the story better.

Ok. But those were nit picking things. The book as a whole was excellent and a great addition to the the previous series. The Golden Doves can certainly stand alone, but I do think that it would be better read with The Lilac Girls in some way (before or after) to round out the whole Ravensbrück picture. The action moved quickly; the characters were interesting; and the surprises at the end were, well, surprising.

I loved every minute of reading this book. The suspense, twists and moving between timelines really keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happens next. I was so caught up in the
storyline that I couldn't stop reading but also never wanted it to end!
This book is the perfect companion to Lilac Girls and I loved the call backs to characters, though sometimes brief, that really pulls this whole world together post-WWIl. I hope Martha Hall
Kelly continues to explore Arlette and Josie's story in future books, it was hard to leave them after the final chapter!

American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue became known as the Golden Doves with their work in the French Resistance against the Nazi invasion in WWII. A decade later they are reunited on a mission that leads them across Europe and to French Guinea.
This historical fiction by the author of The Lilac Girls, Martha Hall Kelly, is inspired by true events.
A must read.

I read and loved Lilac Girls so I was very excited to get to read The Golden Doves. I loved this book just as much. The story alternates between Josie and Arlette's points of view. Josie and Arlette become female spies to help the French resistance. They become known as the Golden Doves and are wanted by the Gestapo. Eventually, they are arrested and sent to a concentration camp. While at the camp, Josie's mother is experimented on by a Nazi doctor and Arelette's son disappears. Years later, Arlette is still looking for her son and meets someone who says he might have found her son. At the same time, Josie is working for the U.S. Army Intelligence and is trying to hunt down the Nazi doctor who experimented on her mother. The stories weave together and both women face their traumatic pasts. This was a book that I couldn't put down!

I have read and loved all of Martha Hall Kelly’s novels. They have all been page turners and The Golden Doves is no exception. It is action packed from the first page to the last and you won’t be able to put it down.

Once again she has taken a little explored area of history and created a story that explores this time period and will leave you wanting to do your own research. It is 1952, seven years after World War II and Josie and Arlette are still trying to recover from their time in Ravensbruck. Arlette is trying to find her son and Josie is trying to come to terms with the death of her mother. Their searching brings them face to face with unimaginable danger and circumstances that will keep the reader engrossed from start to finish.

If you have never read one of Ms. Kelly’s novels, this is a great one to start with. You will be hooked from the first page, so be prepared to sit, relax and get lost in the story. Once you have finished, you will also want to pick up all her other novels.

I requested and received this book for review from NetGalley.

Martha Hall Kelly does it again. This book was such a great read until the very end. This book is about two former female spies who are trying to hunt down a Nazi doctor after the occurrence of WWII. These two women , Arlette La Rue and and Josie Anderson, work for the French resistance and become know as the Golden Doves. This book time travels from past to present and recaps their time spent in Ravensbruck concentration camp. These ladies bravery, courage, and difficult times are chronicles throughout the book. I highly recommend this one. Thanks Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book.

Josie and Arlette believe in their cause, and they believe in each other also. Fiercely loyal to one another, and willing to take risks for their friends that experienced the horrors of the holocaust with them, they do whatever it takes. And hardly least of all, a missing little boy that was separated from his mother by the cruelties of the Nazi regime is the heartbeat of this World War II (and its aftermath) tale. Martha Hall Kelly keeps me involved and intrigued from beginning to end in all of her books and this one does not disappoint. Being historical fiction, I am not quite sure how much fiction and how much history is in the ending of the book, because it is so unbelievable, but nevertheless well written and engaging. I would highly recommend this book to all lovers of World War II historical fiction. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

This is a story of people in the US and Russia trying to help a Nazi scientist escape prosecution for the atrocities at a concentration camp so that he would share the results of his experiments. Many Nazis were helped to flee to Argentina and other countries with help from the Vatican at the end of WWII. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the book even though I read it all. More than likely I won't be looking to read another "Concentration" book again. I'll give it 3 stars as it was well written, just not for me.

This is the story about Josie and Arlette, two former spies from WWII. During the war, they worked in the French resistance and were so effective in stealing Nazi secrets that they soon were well known as the elusive Golden Doves. They experienced all of the terror of the war, including the fear of delivering messages, being arrested and taken to a concentration camp, and getting a glimpse at the terrible activities and experiments that happened there. Arlette even had her very young son taken from her at the camp.

The book opens about 10 years after the war. Josie is now working in Texas for the U.S. Army and Operation Paperclip. She gets a prime assignment of hunting down the doctor who performed these atrocious experiments in the concentration camp. At the same time, a mysterious man approaches Arlette in France and tells her that her son is sill alive, in South America. The women start to investigate and explore, but soon learn that not everyone can be trusted.

This book was a page-turner and more suspenseful than I had ever imagined. The web of events and characters keeps you guessing and wondering to the end. I especially enjoyed the author's notes at the end of the story.

Martha Hall Kelly never lets me down. I loved getting to know both characters, Josie and Arlette. Although it is the fourth in the series, it is a stand-alone novel. I highly recommend this beautifully-written historical fiction. The suspense kept me turning the pages faster and faster. Martha Hall Kelly has the gift of creating characters that jump off the pages..