Jenoff's The Lost Girls of Paris falls into this latter category. I had learned at one point in time about women who have time and again aided men during wars that threatened their freedoms and families, women who have often gone unnoticed and unsung for their sacrifices.
The separate stories of Grace and Eleanor are compelling in their shared defiance of social conventions restricting women to appropriate behaviors. These women in their own ways embody Eleanor Roosevelt's exhortation to "do things you think you cannot do." Eleanor's recruitment, training, and command of women as resistance supporters and facilitators in Nazi-occupied France should have been something she would not be able to do by social gender standards of her time. Women did not have a proper place in the war, except to keep the home fires burning and welcoming home the soldiers who were fortunate enough to return. Similarly, Grace should not have been able to investigate and probe Eleanor's death and ultimately the women under Eleanor's command because that job was within a man's realm of behavior. Both women uncover deception, treachery, less than ethical behavior--of men.
This story is also very much about Marie and the other women entrenched in Nazi-occupied France, women who risked everything including their lives to do more, to be more than their situation as women in a male-dominated culture allowed. Contradicting the restrictions and their perceived limitations, Marie and her sister telegraph operators become forces to be reckoned with, despite the Nazis despicable attitudes and behaviors.
I give The Lost Girls of Paris four stars out of five. I really enjoyed the story and Jenoff's interweaving of two story lines. This is a narrative strategy I'm particularly fond of. I strongly recommend this novel for lovers of strong female characters who are not afraid to break the rules and historical fiction devotees. I am glad to add this book to my cache of World War II stories.
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