Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII
Published: January 29, 2019
Pages: 384
🍊🍊🍊🍊/5
My Review:
Captivating. Heart-wrenching. Emotional.
Pam Jenoff is one of my favorite historical fiction authors and The Kommandants Girl and The Diplomats Wife are books I always recommend.
In her latest title, we visit London, Scotland and France in 1943-1946. The main character is Eleanor, a secretary at the SOE (Special Operation Executive) a clandestine British intelligence agency. One thing leads to another and she is tasked with recruiting and training female operatives to spy, send radio transmissions and risk their lives for the war effort.
She is a strong female lead and she is protective of “her girls”. She isn’t the warmest character but that is intentional.
Aside from the danger and intrigue that the girls go through which is heart stopping- there’s a secondary storyline (that begins a few years after Eleanor’s story begins) of a found briefcase full of pictures of women. The woman, Grace is curious about the photographs and begins a mission to find out who these women were, beginning with Marie, one of Eleanor’s operatives. I was impressed by how the two storylines connected.
This was historical fiction based on actual events, and the author’s portrayal of Eleanor, Marie and Grace’s experiences was powerful and memorable. I was completely immersed in the plot and was pleased with the story’s outcome.
About the Author:
Pam is the author of several novels, including her most recent The Orphan’s Tale, an instant New York Times bestseller. Pam was born in Maryland and raised outside Philadelphia. She attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Cambridge University in England. Upon receiving her master’s in history from Cambridge, she accepted an appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The position provided a unique opportunity to witness and participate in operations at the most senior levels of government, including helping the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims secure their memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, observing recovery efforts at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing and attending ceremonies to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of World War II at sites such as Bastogne and Corregidor.
Following her work at the Pentagon, Jenoff moved to the State Department. In 1996 she was assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. It was during this period that Pam developed her expertise in Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust. Working on matters such as preservation of Auschwitz and the restitution of Jewish property in Poland, Jenoff developed close relations with the surviving Jewish community.
Having left the Foreign Service in 1998 to attend law school at the University of Pennsylvania, Jenoff is now employed as an attorney in Philadelphia.
Pam is the author of The Kommandant’s Girl, which was an international bestseller and nominated for a Quill award, as well as The Diplomat’s Wife and Almost Home.
QOTD: Have you read this author’s other books? Who does WWII Fiction the best?
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The OC Book Girl 
I loved this one as well. It was so emotional and gut wrenching. Terrific review, Jaymi!
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Thank you 😊 Have you read any of her others?
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I did. I read her The Kommandant’s Girl and The Orphan’s Tale both of which I really liked. She is very talented for sure!
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A compelling and unforgettable story by a great author! Wonderful review!
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