If you follow me, you know I love Erika Robuck’s novels, which usually have a strong, historical, female protagonist. This book was exciting because it had two strong, female protagonists, from WWII.

Here’s the scoop:

Description

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Buzzfeed · Bookbub · BookTrib · and more!

Two women, two countries. Nothing in common but a call to fight.

A heart-stopping new novel based on the extraordinary true stories of an American socialite and a British secret agent whose stunning acts of courage collide in the darkest hours of World War II.

1940. In a world newly burning with war, and in spite of her American family’s wishes, Virginia d’Albert-Lake decides to stay in occupied France with her French husband. She’s sure that if they keep their heads down, they’ll survive. But is surviving enough?

Nineteen-year-old Violette Szabo has seen the Nazis’ evil up close and is desperate to fight them. But when she meets the man who’ll change her life only for tragedy to strike, Violette’s adrift. Until she enters the radar of Britain’s secret war organization—the Special Operations Executive—and a new fire is lit in her as she decides just how much she’s willing to risk to enlist.

As Virginia and Violette navigate resistance, their clandestine deeds come to a staggering halt when they are brought together at Ravensbrück concentration camp.

The decisions they make will change their lives, and the world, forever.

It was so crazy as I read this to think that these were true-life people. This story is suspenseful and heart-breaking. In a word: unforgettable. While I love all of Erika’s works, this is my favorite as it’s so beautifully written. You felt like you truly knew what it was like to be in that person’s mind and heart. Often, her novels have told the story of a women through the eyes of a third part (sort of a “Gatsby” feel in the retelling) but I found this story so powerful as each woman told her own. And I learned of two new heroines that I had not heard of before.

If you like WWII genre and female spies, don’t miss it!

Thank you so much for my review e-copy through Net Galley!