The Lost Girls of Paris

By: Pam Jenoff

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden, Henrietta Meire, Candace Thaxton

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

A New York Times best seller

“Fraught with danger, filled with mystery, and meticulously researched, The Lost Girls of Paris is a fascinating tale of the hidden women who helped to win the war.” (Lisa Wingate, New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were Yours)

From the author of the runaway best seller The Orphan’s Tale comes a remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female secret agents during World War II.

1946, Manhattan

One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey 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 network 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 best-selling 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.

A Cosmopolitan Best Book Club Book, PopSugar Must-Read, and Glamour Best of 2019

“An intriguing mystery and a captivating heroine make The Lost Girls of Paris a read to savor!” (Kate Quinn, New York Times best-selling author of The Alice Network)

©2019 Pam Jenoff (P)2019 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Critic reviews

• Cosmopolitan best book club book of 2019
• PopSugar must-read book of 2019
  

"Fraught with danger, filled with mystery, and meticulously researched, The Lost Girls of Paris is a fascinating tale of the hidden women who helped to win the war." (Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours)

"Pam Jenoff’s meticulous research and gorgeous historical world-building lift her books to must-buy status. An intriguing mystery and a captivating heroine make The Lost Girls of Paris a read to savor!" (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network)

I don’t understand the good reviews

I love all kinds of historic fiction(especially WWII), really good writing, and even average writing if the story is good. This book is one of my top 10 worst listens. I almost stopped numerous times B.C. I was so aggravated, but I kept hoping it would get better-it didn’t!! I don’t write many reviews but hopefully I can save people from wasting part of their life on this book. The motivations of the characters make NO sense!!! For the life of me, I have no idea what motivates Grace at all. It’s like the author wanted an interesting angle to go back and forth from past and present, but there is no sensible tie at all between Grace and the other characters which just gets ridiculous. (Slight Spoilers) I can’t imagine anyone going on an intense and increasingly emotional search based on finding pictures in a stranger’s suitcase (run Mark!!) Time and time again, these allegedly strong women proceed recklessly, compelled by “the mission” or passion or truth only to second guess themselves repeatedly right when they get to what they want-why? No reason! The “unbreakable” Kreigler doesn’t even have to be broken-just immediately confesses all in 10 minutes. Elsinore runs all over Europe looking for answers, then gets a key to a a safe deposit box in Switzerland from the person who knows everything, but then wonders if she should just go home? Huh? Even the ultimate reasons for everything or implausible or stupid motivations. () the Director tells Elinor no one will believe her but then just gives her the address of the remaining witness-huh? So many story lines are clipped, missing whole sections and then just end or go elsewhere. And how many times can the writer repeat the same thought or sentiment -apparently over and over , espevially if it’s about “her girls”! I can’t say enough how the charachters’ thinking makes no sense-not normal human thought processes-unless schizophrenic. Everyone is just an idiot. I could say so much more, but hopefully you get the point. If stupidity or nonsensical aggravates you, please don’t take a chance on this book.

Don’t bother

Should have been good, but really wasn’t. Eleanor was supposed the be badass, but her reader was breathy to the point of unbearable. Marie was praised by other characters as good at spying, but she just made stupid decisions. Two of the three women narrators fell in love at seeming random. Where did all these five-star reviews come from? I returned the book to Audible (thanks you, Audible!).

Wonderful story

I listened to Pam Jenoff's new book on audible.com.and LOVED the story,. It kept my attention throughout and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys strong female characters, historical fiction and intrigue. My only complaint was with one of the readers...the voice of Grace., The reader had a sing/song approach which made me cringe whenever it was her turn. I realize that readers can add drama when neededl, but the sing/song was a put-off. Authors have no input into who will be reading the various parts, so with this one exception, it's a marvelous book.

Intriguing page turner

The story combined with the audio of the different characters voices made this novel come alive. I am a big fan of history and I enjoyed how the author changed the scenes from New York in 1946 to England/Paris 1944. The two stories at first seemed not related but the deeper you got into the novel the more it made sense. The author also painted a very descriptive traits of each character.

Surprised by positive reviews

Did we listen to the same book? I was very much looking forward to listening to this. Most of the reviews are great. The overall subject was fascinating. The story, characters, narration were not. There was no compelling reason for the American story. If it was delightful or intriguing, I could have overlooked the clunkiness of it. The ending was disappointing and rushed. I would not recommend.

Interest with a plot.

The plot of The Lost Girls of Paris was captivating. Most of the characters were admirable and realistic. I felt like the espionage details needed more elaboration and there were too many gaps in the story line.
The narrator for Grace constantly uses an unnatural inflection which was extremely annoying.

Missed potential

A good story, but potentially much better. One character, Marie, is repeatedly advised by much more experienced agents to avoid certain actions. She goes ahead with disastrous results, but fails to learn from her mistakes.

I found the author's relentless description of the female agents as 'girls' to be grating. I grew up in the late 1940s and while that term was common, people were actually known to say 'women' as well.

Narration, particularly Grace, was not up to par.

Shallow & underdeveloped

It seems that everyone is getting on the WWII female spy fiction bandwagon. Some of these efforts are thoughtfully outlined & fleshed out & others not so much.

This falls into the underdeveloped category. This book starts & without much background the author has created the idea of relationships without proper support - strangers are suddenly in love. The mystery of this story became obvious pretty early on - at least to me. The links between people were so tenuous that it was hard to care. When the author finally takes the story to Germany to get “solve the mystery” it’s like she felt the need to check off holocaust related check boxes to complete her story. Striped jump suit - check; boxcar - check; mention of gas chamber-check. I really wanted to like this book, purchased it months in advance. Unfortunately the whole thing seems like a superficial retelling of better versions of this same story.

Real Page Turner!

I loved this book of such strong women and was engaged and committed to the story for the whole book! Very well-written! My lower performance rating is due to one of the narrators. The woman who narrated Grace was awful. Her voice doesn’t belong in this story and is a distraction to Grace’s story. It almost sounds like someone’s meandering reminiscing by a camp fire, like Garrison Keeler of Lake Wobegon. There was zero intensity in her voice and everything sounded like a side note. Definitely not enough, and not appropriate, to immerse the reader further in the story.

The other two narrators were amazing!

Had to keep reading

This was an excellent book. Made you feel like you were there with the descriptions and moving back and forth in years. Excellently written. A true must read.