The best books about women spies and ‘lost libraries’ of World War II

Books and Paris, need I say more?

Based on the true story of the librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II, The Paris Library is “an ode to the importance of libraries, books, and the human connections we find within both,” writes author Kristin Harmel.

I gravitate towards books about bookstores, their coziness, their safety. The main character, Odile, reminds the reader that we all have bravery within. I gravitate to older women in my own life, the mother-figure I never had. As a mentor in Odile’s later life, I am heartened by the intergenerational relationship she nurtures.

I think this is the first of the books I read about WWII women.

The author employs two different time frames to conjure the frantic world of the Enigma codebreakers at Bletchley Park, north of London. The Rose Code follows three women who work in secrecy to defeat the Nazis by decoding secret messages—vivacious debutante Osla, self-made Mab, and shy Beth.

I dig reading about women succeeding in a "man's" world and Quinn’s research is impeccable.

A love letter to books. And a nod to classic literature.

August, 1939, London prepares for war, as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Primrose Hill is a dusty old bookshop in the heart of London. Grace Bennett, the main character, finds herself working there and discovers community through the hardships of war. Again, impeccable research.

This one I listened to. I normally read.

A story of one young woman drafted into Churchill’s overseas spy network, aiding the French Resistance behind enemy lines and working to liberate Nazi-occupied Paris. London, 1941: Due to Rose Teasdale’s fluency in French, she is recruited for the Special Operations Executive, a secret British organization that conducts espionage in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Rose parachutes into France with a new codename: Dragonfly. Posing as a cosmetics saleswoman in Paris, she ferries messages to and from the Resistance. (Of course, typically in fiction,) she falls for a French Resistance fighter who has also dedicated himself to the cause.

This book stayed with me for days. I love color.

Susan Vreeland is also entranced by color, artistic creativity, and the transformative power of art. In Lisette’s List, the author portrays Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art by way of the fictional character, Lisette, in Provence, during WWII and the years after as France returns to ‘normal.’ She quotes Paul Cezanne, “Art is a religion.

Its goal is the elevation of thought,” Camille Pissarro, “Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing,” and Marc Chagall, “Art seems to me to be a state of soul more than anything else. Color is all. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything.”

Vreeland paints a story with words of color, of resilience, and of hope.