This was a very moving story Written by Her own daughter. Andree was A teenage girl in occupied France in World War 2. She began working for the resistance as an underground intelligence courier. She would avoid German officers' unwanted attention.while under immense pressure, she delivered vital intelligence destined for France's allies-until she was betrayed and arrested.

Andrée remained composed throughout her ordeal, refusing to reveal the whereabouts of her comrades. In addition to deceiving her interrogators, she continued her underground activities until France was liberated.

Andrée's daughter, Francelle, weaves diary entries, letters, and conversations into her mother's story. This memoir details Andrée's narrow escapes and moments of terror as well as the daily acts of courage and defiance, as well as the extraordinary courage displayed by so many of her contemporaries.

I just finished The Paris Girl by Francelle Bradford White, and it's a compelling read. The book tells the true story of Andrée Griotteray, a 19-year-old working in Nazi-occupied Paris who becomes a courier for the French Resistance. Written by her daughter, the narrative is enriched with diary entries and personal anecdotes, providing an intimate glimpse into Andrée's courage and resilience. While the writing is straightforward, the real-life heroism shines through, making it a worthwhile read for those interested in World War II history and stories of personal bravery.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book.

I had just finished reading The Nightingale and so I loved reading about the real people who did the undercover work that I read about in The Nightingale. I loved that he daughter wrote this book and had heard stories from her and others plus had her diaries to know all that had happened. So crazy to think of this being a true story instead of fiction like the other book I read. This woman did so much for the resistance and especially Orion. This is a really good nonfiction book and information about World War II.

The Paris Girl was a story about Andrée Griotteray, a teenager at the time Germany occupied France in the early 1940's, who worked for the French Resistance, written by her daughter, Francelle Bradford White.

As a Jewish woman who grew up learning about World War II, it was interesting to read this book from the diary of a French woman, who resisted German occupation, and sought to help the Jews, and others in need. Andrée worked for the passport office, and would try to help give ID cards, with a different name on them, to those in need. She also worked with the Orion network, which was founded by her brother, to help get intelligence to other allies as well.

Andrée had several close calls with the German army and police, but thanks to her work at the passport office and work within the Orion Network, she knew to stay calm, and only share a small amount of information.

Through the years after the war, Andrée was hailed a heroine, and rightfully received many awards and accolades in association with her war efforts.
Her daughter did her story and honor justice in keeping her memory, and the story of the French Resistance, alive in this book.

The Paris Girl
The Young Woman Who Outwitted the Nazis and Became a WWII Hero
by Francelle Bradford White
Pub Date Dec 24 2024
Kensington Publishing |Citadel
Biographies & Memoirs| History


Kensignton Publishing/Citadel and Netgalley provided me with a copy of The Paris Girl for review:


A biography movingly written by Andrée Griotteray’s daughter, The Paris Girl kept me up late at night, unable to put it down.


Through her harrowing work as an underground intelligence courier, Andrée Griotteray, a teenage girl in Nazi-occupied Paris, would become a hero of the French Resistance and a hero of the underground resistance.


Andrée Griotteray was 19 years old when German forces invaded France and occupied Paris, where she worked at a passport office. She secretly typed up and printed copies of an underground newspaper, and stolen I.D. cards that enabled scores of Jewish citizens to escape persecution after her younger brother, Alain, created a resistance network named Orion.


Although Andrée was charming and pretty, she secretly began working as an undercover courier, nimbly avoiding German officers' unwanted attention. While under immense pressure, she delivered vital intelligence destined for France's allies-until she was betrayed and arrested.



Andrée remained composed throughout her ordeal, refusing to reveal the whereabouts of her comrades. In addition to deceiving her interrogators, she continued her underground activities until France was liberated.



Andrée's daughter, Francelle, weaves diary entries, letters, and conversations into her mother's story. This memoir details Andrée's narrow escapes and moments of terror as well as the daily acts of courage and defiance, as well as the extraordinary courage displayed by so many of her contemporaries.


I give the Paris Girls five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I actually got this in kindle format and audiobook. They were both good. I enjoyed how the narrator told the story, since I had read it first. I liked the plot and characters and was pleased when I finished both types. If you like historical fiction then definitely grab this one when it comes out.

Voluntarily reviewed copies from NetGalley

In this beautiful, brave, and brilliant biography of Andree Griotteray, a member of the French resistance during the German occupation of France in World War II, her daughter Francelle Bradford White brings Andree and the challenges and dangers of resistance work to life in this incredible biography. Focusing on her work as an undercover courier for the Orion network (founded by her brother Alain) and as a clerk in the passport office under German eyes, readers will discover the risks that everyday people took to free their country from the Nazis eighty years ago. Bringing Andree’s diaries, letters, and conversations with Bradford White into this biography, Francelle Bradford White has created an incredible tribute to her mother’s work for the resistance in this book. With so much historical detail and incredible information present throughout this book, readers will be immersed in the atmosphere and danger of World War II France in this book thanks to Bradford White’s research into her mother’s story. With a fascinating personal slant to this biography and constantly thwarting the odds, this is a powerful, moving, and thrilling new biography of the women of the French resistance that World War II historians and women’s historians will absolutely devour.

There is something that feels very personal about this book. Whilst many (many, many) books discuss the Second World War, I find that most have a distance between the reader and the subject. This book is based on the author’s mother’s work with the resistance and her diaries at the time, both of which combine to make it feel like you really know Andree, that you’re her friend and that she’s telling you about her life. A story of bravery and courage centered around a woman who could’ve survived the war being “ordinary” but instead chose to be extraordinary.

Goodreads review to follow shortly!

The Paris Girl is a meticulously researched and beautifully woven tale of the author's mother's experience working for the French resistance. Compiled via interviews and her mother's diaries, we follow the entirety of the second World War through the eyes of a young woman working in the Passport Office in Paris and undercover as a courier for the French resistance group, Orion. While the writing felt a little awkward at times, and I found myself wishing that the author had included more quotes from primary sources such as the diaries, it was deftly woven together into a cohesive narrative that was informative as well as enjoyable to read.

This is a true story, as told by Andrée’s daughter. Andrée was still a teenager when she started working at Paris Police Headquarters, just before the Germans captured Paris. Her younger brother, Alain, set up a Resistance group. Both of them were very brave in their roles within the Resistance. The story is well written and very informative. Compelling reading. There’s such a wealth of information. Andrée’s journal/diary gives a first hand account of what they lived through during World War Two. Fascinating!

I found it a struggle to get through the first of The Paris Girl with such minute details. Once the actual resistance activities of Andree Griotteray and her brother Alain for the four years of German occupation of Paris and France the book became hard to put down. The author is the daughter of Andree and when awards began to flood Andree 50 years after the war ended, Francelle wanted to learn more. Walking the streets of Paris and the various escape routes the Resistance used brought a great impact to the author and the readers.

This book was originally written to raise money for Alzheimer's patients and research. Being reissued on 2024 facts have been verified over the decade and the amazing life of Andree (& Alain) is extraordinary.

This is the amazing story of Andree, a girl who worked as a spy for the Resistance in France during WWII. Written by her daughter based on Andree's diaries, the stories she told and different conversations with different people. It shows us how these young French people became spies with no training, only with courage and the will to help their country. Even though the style the book is written was a bit confusing for me, I learnt from a part of history I didn't know much about. Every person in the book can inspire you in a way and reading what they went through, how they survived those years, is a lesson to learn from.

At 19, Andrée Griotteray worked as a clerk in Paris during the German occupation of France. She and her brother Alain joined the resistance, with Andrée typing underground newspapers, stealing blank ID papers to help Jewish people and others in danger, and serving as a courier for the Orion network. Despite her youth, she remained composed, skillfully deflecting unwanted attention from German officers and contributing to critical resistance efforts.

The Paris Girl by Francelle Bradford White, based on family diaries, letters, and interviews, tells the story of Andrée’s bravery and resilience. Her actions significantly aided France and the Allied forces during the war. Awarded four medals for her heroism, Andrée’s legacy is honored through this compelling biography, with proceeds from its reprint supporting the Alzheimer’s foundation. Highly recommended—four stars!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

At the time of this review, there are only 8 others but I definitely feel like the odd man out. I had such high hopes for this one but it fell really short for me. The author is writing her mother's biography/memoir about the work she did for the French resistance during WWII. I have the utmost respect for these heroes and I deeply admire their courage and strength. With that being said, I could only make it to the halfway point of this book. I really wanted to give it more but it was starting to feel like a chore to pick it up. I just wasn't a fan of the writing style. I really wish that it had been written more like a novel and less like a history lesson. I feel that it could have easily been written like a novel and still held the authenticity of a biography. It just felt so detached. I would have expected more emotion since it was written by Andree's daughter. I had a hard time connecting with the people in the book. I felt that the events were not as cohesive as they could have been and the flow was a little choppy. I did like the entries from Andree's journal but felt they needed to be weaved into the story a little more seamlessly. They felt like they were just chunked out and then randomly thrown into pages. I liked hearing about the events and activities of the resistance group but felt very bored by how they were written. It felt like a textbook and I wanted more of the emotion that comes with a memoir or a novel. Normally, a book I cannot finish gets an automatic 1 star but I do feel that the content was valuable even if I couldn't personally get past the writing style. I'm giving this one 2 stars.

Author Francelle Bradford White's mother, Andrée Griotteray, was a courageous and fearless young lady living in Paris when War War II swirled all around her. She kept journals detailing her daily life including her disgust at the German soldiers marching in, her brother's escape to North Africa, food queues, wondrous meals and horrendous meals, theatre, curfews, dates she went on, clothing, antisemitic laws, scarlet fever, her job and work with the Orion Resistance group (in which she exercised journaling restraint). She worked in various departments at the Police Headquarters but the longer she was there the more incensed she became as she felt her workplace was full of corroborators. But her youth and naivete contributed to her bravery and she thought nothing about risk and danger. Her Médaille de la Résistance and the Croix de Guerre were well deserved. Andrée was a true heroine...what a privilege to learn more about her and her family. Kudos to the author for telling this story, her meticulous research and translating the journals. I imagine she is very proud of the work her family did to help persecuted Jews.

This story gripped me and captivated me so thoroughly I carried the book around wherever I went. Not only does the reader catch personal glimpses into war before from Andrée's perspective before, during and after the war but the author's extensive and impassioned notes are fascinating and important.

My sincere thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this utterly engrossing book.

This is the inspiring story of Andrée Griotteray, who worked as a member of the Resistance, written by her daughter. Fans of the WWII genre should pick this up as Andree is an actual heroine. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Also good for the YA crowd.

Any historical era book from WWII will always be interesting to me. This one was even more interesting because it is a second hand account, written by the daughter of the person it is about. That is amazing. I love hearing peoples stories from that part of history. I will recommend to others I know!

I love that this book is written by the daughter of the woman it's about. You can tell there's a connection and depth to the story that wouldn't necessarily be there otherwise. It's incredible how many women were able to serve the war effort by being spies because who would expect a woman to be a spy? It took far too long for others to catch on, and it was too late once they had. A pretty pair of eyes and feigned innocence and naivete go a long way. So it is with this book. Andree was amazing and another woman to be inspired by!

See my full review at http://michelleardillo.com/2024/11/21/book-review-the-paris-girl-the-young-woman-who-outwitted-the-nazis-and-became-a-wwii-hero-by-francelle-bradford-white/