Name: Bi's review of The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
Item: The Lost Girls of Paris
Rating: 2
Author: Bi

Pam Jenoff

From the author of the runaway bestseller 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 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.

The Lost Girls of Paris

Kayla 

This was, sadly, terribly disappointing. I was expecting this to read more like literary historical fiction and yet I feel like what I got was reminiscent of YA in terms of writing style. There was such a disconnect between the intriguing concept of this book (which drew me to it in the first place) and the execution. 

First of all, let's talk about the writing itself. It all was so mediocre! Sometimes I had to wonder what this book's editor was even doing..... It was full of cliches, underdeveloped characters, overused tropes that in other contexts I maybe would have enjoyed but here they just fell flat and lastly a very underwhelming and mostly predictable plot. 

The concept and structure of the multiple timelines seemed interesting at first but the execution was so poor I can't help but feel the book would've been slightly more redeemable with just one linear narrative. The multiple POVs, as well, were a similar story. I get what they were trying to achieve, but in the end, I just feel like it made all of the characters and plotlines feel underdeveloped and just lukewarm. 

I couldn't connect at all with Grace's character. She felt the most one-dimensional out of all of them and I don't quite get the whole point of her narrative arc (if you can call it that). I can't help but feel like Grace is meant to be a reflection of what the author wishes the readers would be: utterly engrossed in the story of the lost girls of Paris. And yet, this barely fleshed-out character only served to make me feel more distant from the story and the characters within it. 

Lastly, the story itself promised so much. I was expecting this to keep me entertained and yet I was rolling my eyes at each new development. The romances felt forced and cliched, some of the characters' motivations felt so unrealistic and unbelievable and most of the plot twists were easily predictable. In short, this book was a complete letdown and that makes me feel quite sad - this does not feel like the book I was promised in the blurb...

Colleen

2 Stars

*I expected more cohesive writing from a best-selling author. I expected a better researched and immersive experience from someone with a Masters in History.*

ARC provided by Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


The Lost Girls of Paris is yet another example of why I get so frustrated with WWII Fiction. Not only are a disproportionate percentage of Historical Fiction novels focused on WWII, they also tend to flounder along the same generic plots and shoddy research. Yet people weep and laud over them because they confuse the tragedy of real life events with the cheap specters that so many of these fictional stories create. Just because something is based on real-life tragedy does not make up for shoddy writing!!!

The best thing I can say about The Lost Girls of Paris is that it wasn’t nearly as ATROCIOUS as the Nightingale. I know most people thought that book was some special, poignant deity, but it was sloppily written, clichéd, and offensive to the real people who lived through those events. But I’m not here to review that travesty. I mention it, because I truly thought that The Lost Girls of Paris would have some redeeming factors to rinse away the bad taste. I haven’t read any of Jenoff’s other works, but she has good reviews. And I thought that her education in History would herald a well-researched and immersive story.

Sadly, it did not.

The Lost Girls of Paris follows the POV of three different women. Two at the end of World War II and the other in 1946. Eleanor Trigg is the leader of a ring of female operators working as radio opperators in occupied France. Marie is one of Eleanor’s recruits. Grace is a random civilian in 1946 who comes across some photos of the operatives and decides to figure out who they are. 

Grace’s storyline was by far the weakest part of this book. First of all, her involvement in the plot was farfetched and almost nonsensical. Secondly, Grace’s character was bland and boring. I probably sighed every time I turned a page and discovered that the next chapter was about her. Third, her story features a ridiculous amount of coincidences. Forth, her storyline spoils events for the other two POV. The overall story would have been more compelling and suspenseful if Grace had not existed at all.

The story is based on real events. Eleanor Trigg is clearly Vera Atkins. Marie doesn’t seem to be based entirely on one person, but the events of the WWII are grounded in fact. If you are familiar with the fate of F Section, then this story won’t be much of a surprise to you. Without going into spoilers, I know there are different theories about what happened, but based on the nonfiction I’ve read, I disagree with Jenoff’s interpretation of events.

I’ve already mentioned that Grace a boring and tedious character. But none of the other characters were particularly compelling. Eleanor was stiff. Marie was foolish and inept. She seems even more incompetent compared to real life heroes such as Noor Inayat Khan. 

Despite all of that, at first I thought I might be able to give this book three stars. Then I got to the last quarter of the book. Although the earlier parts of the book had their share of obnoxiously convenient coincidences, in the last part of the story, the deus ex machina ramped up to positively absurd levels until it was hitting you almost non-stop. Actually, I’m not sure deus ex machina is an accurate label since that is traditionally one big event that conveniently ties everything up. Whereas the entire plot of The Lost Girls of Paris is utterly dependent upon a countless series of unbelievable coincidences. A few might be forgiven. But this story had almost farcical levels of cop-outs. Without getting into specific spoilers, there are THREE different instances of various prisoners hiding objects on or in their persons despite held captive for extended time periods and being tortured. Even more frustrating is the way people blurt out information. Whether it’s extremely personal information or top secret government data, there is no way that everyone these women talked would feel so compelled to share that much information. A lot of this information was classified for decades after the war. They sure as hell weren’t passing it out to random civilians who wandered in off the street! That is the exact opposite of the mentality spanning WWII and the Cold War.

Also, the romances in this book were soooo corny and predictable.

And if you’re looking for some female empowerment, this definitely isn’t the right book for that! Grace and Marie were both idiots. This isn’t a story that does justice to the real life tragedies. 

Overall, the story felt rushed and sloppy. I never would have guessed that this was written by someone with the author’s credentials and experience. The characters were bland and annoying. The writing used too many cheap tricks and was anachronistic. And it definitely did no justice to the real-life story and people that it borrowed from. This was extremely disappointing.

 
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 1 Star

Rachel Kanyid

I really enjoyed this! Following the mystery of what happened to the girls was very interesting!

Grace Ackerman

I really enjoyed this book. It’s about three women who, from different perspectives, showcase the effects of the war, both during and after. 

I really liked the characters and how they were flawed, like all people are, and weren’t completely perfect, amazing, beautiful, and smart from the get-go. Also, the storyline was really well developed and had me hooked from the very beginning. The book was well written and I throughly enjoyed it! Every book has its flaws, but I don’t want to spoil the book. Overall, 4.5 stars. I so enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend!

Lindsay Hollmann

2.5?

Fascinating in premise, and readable.

Untidy loose ends, too-convenient bowties, and bland prose.

Caroline Lewicki

This was an inspiring book about the strength and resilience of women. I didn’t know about the women that acted as spies in Paris and while the women in this book were fictionalized, I’m looking forward to falling down the rabbit hole reading about the real women. 

The writing was well done and interesting. I wasn’t sure how the three voices would come together and it wasn’t perfect but I enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a book about WW2 that takes a different perspective, pick this up!

Shawna Gavas

Wow! What an amazing journey Pam Jenoff has taken us on!

Eleanor Trigg recruited a group of women that would become an important part in the war against Germany. They were trained rigorously to infiltrate occupied France without detection and transmit messages back to London. 

These women were beyond brave -they faced certain death if caught and they all knew it. Yet they still went, still believed in the cause. From teenagers to mothers, these women sacificed everything.

The adventure had me sitting on the edge of my seat for most of the novel. The detail the author put into describing the surroundings and feelings of the characters made me feel as if I was part of their team. I can't imagine the terror these women felt! In an age where technology is so readily available to us (I don't go to Walmart without my phone), it's unimaginable how these women went blind into enemy territory and got the job done! From sleeping in sheds to hiding in safehouses to being arrested. And with no contact with their loved ones! Absolutely mind-boggling. It certainly puts things into perspective.

As the first book I've read this year, it's going to be a very tough act to follow! Well done Pam Jenoff!

Sophia

I really liked how the story was developed, and it catches you so you just can’t stop reading until you are able to connect all the dots from the narrative, especially since it was narrated from three points of view that completed (and well, sometimes, even conflicted with - makes you really get into it 🧐) each other. 
(also, to be honest, I was kinda disappointed with the ending - but that’s on me 🙂)
4 ⭐️

Sharon Steinman

Overall I enjoyed the story and found it interesting. I do agree with many of the reviews there were short cuts in the plot that should have been worked out better with more research or direction. Many sections of the story line seemed too simplistic and not believable which is a shame because the story had great potential.

Les Reynolds

So I think I'm done with books about World Wars, by women, for women (The Nightingale, The Winemaker's Wife, Winter Garden). The story was interesting, but felt contrived and formulaic.

Kayla &
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

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