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From the author of the runaway bestseller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female spies during World War II. 1946, Manhattan Grace Healey 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, 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, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal. Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war, and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances
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March 7, 2020
This should have been something I really enjoyed (Paris! women spies!) but for some reason just couldn't get into the book! This is the second Jenoff I've read, and I've found the writing underwhelming both times.
I think I need a break from WWII books for a while.
10/14/20
This book was my book club's choice. So I made myself read it. And I regret doing so.
We follow three POVs, and I can't decide which was the worst one. No, I think Marie was the worst one, because she could have been the best one, and yet was soooo stupid. She was a young mother who agreed (WHY??) to become a female spy against the Nazis in WWII. She was shipped off to Scotland, and despite being poor to middling at most of the tasks, was there a very short time before being sent to Paris. Upon landing, she immediately talks to the first person she meets, and he locks her in a shed overnight (STUPID, and also WHY???) then he takes her to a safe house, where she sees some other spies, asks a thousand questions (she's told off for asking questions but then they all answer them, nbd. Also nobody seems to be speaking French here or using aliases). The man (THE FREAKING HEAD SPY IN CHARGE OF WAYYY TOO MANY PEOPLE, WHO ALSO DOESN'T SPEAK MUCH FRENCH) walks her into town and to her apartment. She thinks she's already into him. WTF.
Grace has no reason to take the photos, and then no reason to figure out who they belong to and who they represent....
I can't keep going.
This book was poorly written, poorly characterized, and has big plot holes. Plus it's not even interesting--I had to force myself to finish it.
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