The Paris Girl

The Paris Girl

The Young Woman Who Outwitted the Nazis and Became a WWII Hero

by Francelle Bradford White

Pub Date Dec 24 2024

Kensington Publishing |Citadel

Biographies & Memoirs|. History

Kensignton Publishing/Citadel and Netgalley provided me with a copy of The Paris Girl for review:

A biography movingly written by Andrée Griotteray’s daughter, The Paris Girl kept me up late at night, unable to put it down.

Through her harrowing work as an underground intelligence courier, Andrée Griotteray, a teenage girl in Nazi-occupied Paris, would become a hero of the French Resistance and a hero of the underground resistance.

Andrée Griotteray was 19 years old when German forces invaded France and occupied Paris, where she worked at a passport office. She secretly typed up and printed copies of an underground newspaper, and stolen I.D. cards that enabled scores of Jewish citizens to escape persecution after her younger brother, Alain, created a resistance network named Orion.

Although Andrée was charming and pretty, she secretly began working as an undercover courier, nimbly avoiding German officers’ unwanted attention. While under immense pressure, she delivered vital intelligence destined for France’s allies-until she was betrayed and arrested.

Andrée remained composed throughout her ordeal, refusing to reveal the whereabouts of her comrades. In addition to deceiving her interrogators, she continued her underground activities until France was liberated.

Andrée’s daughter, Francelle, weaves diary entries, letters, and conversations into her mother’s story. This memoir details Andrée’s narrow escapes and moments of terror as well as the daily acts of courage and defiance, as well as the extraordinary courage displayed by so many of her contemporaries.

I give the Paris Girls five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!