Beautiful, Compelling Work of Historical Fiction
I absolutely loved this book!
This beautiful book alternates between 3 different stories that tie together - Grace in New York in 1946, Eleanor in London in 1943 and Marie in London/Scotland/France in 1944.
A woman is hit and killed by a car on the streets of New York, causing Grace to take a bit of a detour to work. Grace finds a suitcase under a bench in Grand Central Station in 1946. Inside are some women's clothing and toiletry items as well as a stack of photos of various women with their names on the photos. Grace is intrigued immediately. Who are these women and why is this suitcase here? She has come to New York to get away from her family after the death of her husband, Tom. Grace enjoys her work at Frankie's law practice for immigrants but solving the mystery of these photos could give her a sense of purpose.
Eleanor works as a secretary and unofficial advisor to Gregory Winslow, Director of Special Operations Executive. The SOE was created to "set Europe ablaze through sabotage and subversion". They've sent hundreds of agents into Europe to help win the war by disrupting rail lines and munitions factories. However, the SOE has had multiple agents arrested in the past month and they are wondering what they are doing wrong. Eleanor realizes that having men do the work draws too much attention as all healthy men would be off fighting in the war. However, women would blend in much more easily. Eleanor gets permission to start training women to be radio operators and relay messages back and forth between England and France.
Marie is a single mother of a five-year-old daughter who works as a typist at the War Office annex. She is recruited to work as one of Eleanor's agents. Her daughter, Tess, has been living with Marie's Aunt Hazel for more than two years to keep her safe and Marie misses her terribly. She struggles with the idea of leaving Tess behind to go work for Eleanor but the money she will make will help Marie keep her house and support Tess. She is sent to Scotland to train and determine if she can take on the challenge.
The alternating story helps build suspense as Grace tries to figure out who the women in the photographs are and how the woman killed by the car fits in. Marie and Eleanor's stories twist together to culminate in a series of dramatic events and lead up to Grace's portion of the story. The three women are fascinating, strong, female characters who are so well written.
Historical fiction is not usually my favorite genre but I fell in love with this story. I laughed and cried out loud while sitting on the edge of my seat. There are such emotional parts of this story that will break your heart but the conclusion leaves the reader with hope. This is a 5-star read for me.
This beautiful book alternates between 3 different stories that tie together - Grace in New York in 1946, Eleanor in London in 1943 and Marie in London/Scotland/France in 1944.
A woman is hit and killed by a car on the streets of New York, causing Grace to take a bit of a detour to work. Grace finds a suitcase under a bench in Grand Central Station in 1946. Inside are some women's clothing and toiletry items as well as a stack of photos of various women with their names on the photos. Grace is intrigued immediately. Who are these women and why is this suitcase here? She has come to New York to get away from her family after the death of her husband, Tom. Grace enjoys her work at Frankie's law practice for immigrants but solving the mystery of these photos could give her a sense of purpose.
Eleanor works as a secretary and unofficial advisor to Gregory Winslow, Director of Special Operations Executive. The SOE was created to "set Europe ablaze through sabotage and subversion". They've sent hundreds of agents into Europe to help win the war by disrupting rail lines and munitions factories. However, the SOE has had multiple agents arrested in the past month and they are wondering what they are doing wrong. Eleanor realizes that having men do the work draws too much attention as all healthy men would be off fighting in the war. However, women would blend in much more easily. Eleanor gets permission to start training women to be radio operators and relay messages back and forth between England and France.
Marie is a single mother of a five-year-old daughter who works as a typist at the War Office annex. She is recruited to work as one of Eleanor's agents. Her daughter, Tess, has been living with Marie's Aunt Hazel for more than two years to keep her safe and Marie misses her terribly. She struggles with the idea of leaving Tess behind to go work for Eleanor but the money she will make will help Marie keep her house and support Tess. She is sent to Scotland to train and determine if she can take on the challenge.
The alternating story helps build suspense as Grace tries to figure out who the women in the photographs are and how the woman killed by the car fits in. Marie and Eleanor's stories twist together to culminate in a series of dramatic events and lead up to Grace's portion of the story. The three women are fascinating, strong, female characters who are so well written.
Historical fiction is not usually my favorite genre but I fell in love with this story. I laughed and cried out loud while sitting on the edge of my seat. There are such emotional parts of this story that will break your heart but the conclusion leaves the reader with hope. This is a 5-star read for me.