DDay Girls, Sarah Rose
DDay Girls, Sarah Rose
4 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

D-Day Girls
The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II

Author: Sarah Rose

Narrator: Sarah Rose

Unabridged: 10 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/23/2019


Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The dramatic, untold history of the heroic women recruited by Britain’s elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory in World War II

“Gripping. Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and treachery (lots of treachery)—and all of it true.”—Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake

In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was on the front lines. To “set Europe ablaze,” in the words of Winston Churchill, the Special Operations Executive  (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting, was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France.

In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently de­classified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There’s Andrée Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE’s unflap­pable “queen.” Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence—laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war.

Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage—and the energy of politically animated women—can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.

Praise for D-Day Girls

“Rigorously researched . . . [a] thriller in the form of a non-fiction book.”—Refinery29

“Equal parts espionage-romance thriller and historical narrative, D-Day Girls traces the lives and secret activities of the 39 women who answered the call to infiltrate France. . . . While chronicling the James Bond-worthy missions and love affairs of these women, Rose vividly captures the broken landscape of war.”—The Washington Post

“Gripping history . . . thoroughly researched and written as smoothly as a good thriller, this is a mesmerizing story of creativity, perseverance, and astonishing heroism.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About Sarah Rose

Sarah Rose holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Chicago. She has worked as a journalist in Hong Kong, Miami, and New York, and now covers food and travel for such magazines as Men's Journal, Bon Appetit, and Brides. She lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Christine on July 25, 2019

When I requested a review copy of this book, I thought I was going to get a historical fiction novel. It turns out this is a nonfiction book. I was a little upset with myself as I love historical fiction, but do not read many nonfiction titles. Having an intense interest in reading a book about D-Da......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on April 19, 2019

A fascinating and compelling story about the women spies who influenced the outcome of D-Day. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 1942 was not a good year for the Allies during World War II. They were losing. There isn’t much that could be done at home in Britain because all the men are out fighting. Winston Churchill cre......more

Goodreads review by Literary on June 29, 2019

GAVE ALL So many risked all to ensure victory 75 years ago in Normandy. D-DAY GIRLS tells the utterly compelling tale of female agents — members of Churchill’s Secret Operations Executive — who blew up weapon supplies and power lines, derailed trains, and sabotaged the Nazis with cunning, bravery and......more

Goodreads review by Katie on April 21, 2019

What peaked my interest when I first heard about this book was that it featured women who risked their lives to help win World War 2. I love reading these type of non-fiction books because it feels like for far too long the role women played in the war was largely ignored. It's nice that as more and......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on January 21, 2019

This is an incredible read. Not only are the women spies fascinating and their journeys brave and compelling, but the writer really engages the audience with background tales and details about where they were in the bigger picture of the war. Tension runs high. I found it difficult to put this one d......more


Quotes

“Inspiring and empowering—there were countless moments that gave me full-body chills. I have never read a book like this. Even if you think you don’t like nonfiction, pick up this book.”—Sarah J. Maas on NBC’s Today

“Comprehensive and compelling . . . Readers get to know these amazing women as individuals as their duties unfold against the backdrop of the war. . . . Rose smoothly integrates developing events with biographical details and glimpses into French wartime society, creating a digestible and easy-to-follow story. This satisfying mix of social history and biography . . . should engage a wide audience.”Booklist (starred review)

D-Day Girls, written with novelistic detail, weaves together five women’s narratives using historical research from contemporary periodicals, archives, and interview records. . . . [D-Day Girls is part of] a new library and a more robust approach to analyzing women’s essential role in war.”Foreign Policy

D-Day Girls brims with detail, akin to the nonfiction narratives of Erik Larson and Laura Hillenbrand.”Women’s Wear Daily

“The mission is this: Read D-Day Girls today. Not just for the spy flair—code names, aliases, and operating covers—but also because this history feels more relevant than ever, as an army of women and girls again find themselves in a fight for the common good.”—Lily Koppel, author of The Astronaut Wives Club

“Sarah Rose's D-Day Girls is not only a page-turning spy story that reads like fiction, it's a highly relevant account that will, at long last, inscribe the names of three remarkable female spies—Andrée Borrel, Odette Sansom, Lise de Baissac—into our history books.”—Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire

“With skill and heart, Sarah Rose captures the adventures of an extraordinary group of women who kept the resistance alive during the darkest days of World War II, risking everything to liberate their loved ones, their nations, and democracy itself. Spies and saboteurs, high explosives, ingenious deceptions, dirty poems transformed into cryptologic keysI couldn’t stop reading.”—Jason Fagone, author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes

 “Sarah Rose's edge-of-the-seat spy thriller weaves the incredible stories of World War II's forgotten heroines—daring, modern, and key to defeating the Nazis in France. Brilliantly researched and gorgeously written—with a cameo from Winston Churchill—this is the D-Day book the world has been waiting for.”—Karen Abbott, author of Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

“Sarah Rose has worked wonders to provide a fresh, thrilling account of the female spies whose courage and audacity helped win the day on June 6, 1944.”—Alex Kershaw, author of The Bedford Boys and Avenue of Spies

“Rose delivers a swift moving . . . expert blow-by-blow account. . . . A readable spy thriller that fights against the idea of ‘the original sin of women at war.’”Kirkus Reviews