The Lost Girls of Paris - Pam Jenoff

The Lost Girls of Paris – Pam Jenoff

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.

My Review of The Lost Girls of Paris

Damn DAMN DAMN!!! I am so disappointed! During the first half of the book I was CONVINCED that this was going to be a 5-star-read! But then somewhere around the middle it did a total 180 and I was wondering how I was going to get through it…

The story is based around three women’s experiences. In 1946 Grace finds a suitcase with photographs of women. When she discovers that the photographs were of secret British agents, she goes on a mission to discover what happened to them. Then starts the viewpoints of Grace and two other characters, one of the agents Marie, and the owner of the suitcase, Eleanor.

The writing and story started off so solidly. I was captivated and couldn’t stop listening. It had a very Code Name Verity vibe to it and I had almost mentally placed it in my book of the year spot. But then I am not sure what happened.

The storyline got sloppy. A whole bunch of extra information was thrown in after each event as after-thoughts. Too many ridiculous things began to happen. Too many coincidences and plot holes patched up with band-aids.

I loved the characters at the beginning (even though I had to suspend belief about how they were recruited amongst other things). But like the storyline, the characters suddenly went downhill. Our main character Marie turned into the most stupid character I have ever read about. Honestly, the decisions that she made were enough to make me want to scream and while listening in the car I actually cursed her out loud for making the most stupid decision in the whole book, I am sure those of you who have read it will know EXACTLY what I am talking about and are perhaps wondering yourself WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!??

I love a good romance in a book. I really do! But there was one romance in this one that seemed like it was put in there just to have a bit of romance in there. It felt forced, rushed and utterly unnecessary. I had no investment in the relationship between the characters and it didn’t elicit an emotional response to me at all.

Did I enjoy the audio version?

The narration was top-notch! There were three narrators who were extremely talented and enjoyable to listen to. I really enjoyed their portrayal of the characters and their accents!

Would I recommend The Lost Girls of Paris?

This is a tough one! It gets SO MANY glowing 5-star reviews. I guess a lot of people just got swept into the story and could look past some of the stupidity of the characters and plot-holes. If you are a fan of the genre give it a go and let me know if you agree!

(2.5 / 5)