(Image Credit: Goodreads)

Based on true figures and historical events, The Lost Girls of Paris tells the story of the fearless female agents who risked everything to win the war against the Germans during World War Two. Following three women, the reader learns the story of these brave women and what became of them after paying the ultimate sacrifice.

As the summary of the book suggests, The Lost Girls of Paris is told from the perspective of three women. Grace is living in New York City in the year after the end of World War Two. Widowed and heartbroken Grace stumbles across an abandoned suitcase in Grand Central Station, containing several photos of unknown women that strike Grace’s interest. Two years earlier, Eleanor Trigg is tasked by her superior to oversee a new and risky project, to recruit young women that will be sent to occupied France and pass important information between the French Resistance and the British in the lead-up to D-Day. Among the women recruited is single mother Marie who finds herself thrust into a situation that she had no way of preparing for.

Though a fictional story, the characters of Eleanor and Marie are based on several historical figures and while Marie’s story was not necessarily groundbreaking of innovative, Eleanor’s story and her actions during and after the war was fascinating, especially as it was based on historical fact. In this way I found myself wishing the story focused solely on Eleanor and her journey from starting the program until the conclusion of her duties to the young women she recruited. Grace’s story was interesting and engaging at first, but seemingly fizzled out halfway through the book. As the story of Eleanor and the female agents takes over the story, Grace’s becomes a bit of a roadblock and something I had to get through versus something I wanted to read.

There is a lot of good material here and for the most part it was an interesting and insightful story. However, the pacing of the three stories is odd and often took me out of each character’s story. I would have preferred Ms. Jenoff to focus on one or two characters, but not three to allow me to stay in the story and become fully invested in the story of all the women.

3 out of 5 stars