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There are currently 43 member reviews
for D-Day Girls
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Joan R. (Chicago, IL)
An Extraordinary Story
This book engaged me from page one, immersing me into its world immediately. That world is WWII before D-Day as lived by a group of female undercover spies in France. Their stories border on unbelievable and yet...they are true. The author has meticulously researched her topic using first-hand sources and recently declassified material. Each woman and her story come to life as does the history of the period. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrilling, inspiring true story. It is by far one of the best books I've read this year.
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Jeanne W. (Colorado Springs, CO)
Long Overdue
A treasure trove of WWII-era documents was released several years ago, leading to some great books like this one. It's about time that women who served in such critical roles got their due. Rose's book concerns a handful of these women. Trained up like men, dropped behind enemy lines and responsible for radio transmitting, couriering and receiving and distributing caches of arms and materiel, these women deserve to be called heroes.
The book is sometimes frustrating because it seems to jump around a fair bit and I found myself flipping back and forth to figure out what was going on. To be fair, I think that's a natural problem in a non-fiction book where many documents may have been lost. Overall, this is a great book and even fiction readers will enjoy the exciting cloak and dagger exploits of these very brave women.
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Carol T. (Ankeny, IA)
Suprising women
Concise, easy to read history of the women spies in WWII France. Excellent notes and bibliography. For the most part, I was able to keep the women straight - no small feat when there were many. I'd have liked to know more about each of them, but that would have taken a MUCH longer book, making it harder to read. Rose did not "pad" for length as so many non-fictions writers seem to do, repeating themselves ad nauseam, making this an easy-to-finish book, too.
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Mary S. (Bow, NH)
Women heroes of World War II
I'm not usually a reader of war stories, real or fiction, but I was captivated by this book and its stories of women fighting the Nazis - and I think any reader would be equally engrossed. The author, Sarah Rose, is both a historian and storyteller, effortlessly weaving facts into an illustrative story of the lives of women who worked for the British as spies in Nazi-occupied France. There, they risked their lives helping to organize the resistance in preparation for D-Day.
Rose is an author that shouldn't be missed. Her passion for her subjects comes through in the careful telling of their lives and contributions to the war effort. As she points out, "Historically, women's labor goes uncounted, and women's war work was also in the shadows." Rose does an admirable job of bringing that important work out of the shadows.
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Darrell W. (Hillsboro, OR)
D-Day Girls Are Great
With rich, lovely sentences and perceptive insight into the ugliness of war, Sarah Rose has given us history that reads like a novel and a novel that teaches us about the over-looked role of strong women on the clandestine side of World War II. Author Rose skillfully portrays the tactical side of being a spy while revealing the undeniable role of human emotions that lay traps and forges escapes from danger. Sarah Rose has written a thoroughly researched story that tells the truth about the success and failures of French and English women who enabled the war effort in Europe.
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Robert I. (Portland, OR)
D-Day Girls by Sara Rose
D-Day Girls is an enthralling account of wartime intrigue with a sense of colloquial culture set against an invading war machine. It is a complex web of treachery with gradual undermining of the invading forces from within by a network of brilliant and courageous women. Created is an intimate story of the sacrifice of personal safety and relationships for the integrity of a nation. These courageous women capture your heart in a moving story that is so beautifully orchestrated by Sara Rose it is impossible to put down. To witness what these women endured is a heart wrenching experience and gives one a true sense of their inexorable values and faithful allegiance to one another and their country.
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Antoinette B. (Mountain Center, CA)
Not a historical Novel
Not what I expected, but the author did an amazing job of taking a myriad of facts, events and persons and turning them into a compelling story of war and heroism. Without the smooth flow of information this story could have been a boring litany of facts. Without the in depth look at the character's personalities, strengths and flaws, they could have come across as the typical Mata Hari's and James Bond's found in other novels. Without the author's skill at giving us insight into the fears and views of a less enlightened time, I might have missed just how phenomenal these episode became.
The obvious market would be war buffs for the details gave great insight of the war behind the war. However, I think an effort should be made to reach those who are interested in the history of women and how they slowly but surely sacrificed to change their place in society and on the world stage.
This was an excellent read that not only entertained, but taught.
