Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Paris Undercover:
With friends like this….
Quick synopsis:
The story of two women in Nazi-occupied Paris and a huge betrayal.
Fact for Non-History People:
At least 39 women were sent into occupied-Paris by the British SOE.
Fact for History Nerds:
The American OSS employed nearly 24,000 spies in World War II.
My Take on Paris Undercover:
There are people you learn about from history who prompt a simple question. “Why bother writing fictional characters when you could just write about this person?” Dear readers, Kate “Kitty” Bonnefous is one of those people. She was courageous, wildly reckless at times, and above all, loyal to her own detriment. She helped numerous men escape Nazi clutches in World War II from Paris. She was also betrayed in one of the worst ways possible. Please have your outrage meter handy for the end of this book because holy moly…
Paris Undercover by Matthew Goodman dives into the story of Kitty and her best friend/flatmate Etta as they help these men escape. Kitty and Etta are far from professional spies, but you wouldn’t know it based on the results. Goodman does a great job telling this story. It is broken up into three sections, Etta and Kitty’s bios up until Etta’s arrest, Etta’s journey home and subsequent writing of her (almost) tell-all book on her experiences, and Kitty’s path to freedom along with the aftermath.
I enjoyed Goodman’s pace for the most part although it did drag slightly in parts, but this is a very minor issue and hardly frequent. There are a lot of characters, but they are balanced rather well and the descriptions of various prisons conjures the right level of horror. Especially for someone who doesn’t read a lot of World War II spy books, I think this book is a perfect balance of story and history without being overwhelming. Give it a read!
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Ballantine Books.)
Verdict:
A riveting (and enraging!) story. Buy it here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.