“When the Nazis march toward Paris, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. The Germans make it difficult for her to keep Green Leaf Books afloat. And she must keep the store open if she is to continue aiding the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.
Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. But in order to carry out his mission, he must appear to support the occupation—which does not win him any sympathy when he meets Lucie in the bookstore.
In a world turned upside down, will love or duty prevail?”
Series: Book #2 in the “Friends in Resistance” series. Review of Book #1 Here!
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Church going & a Hymn is sung; Talks about God, praying, gifts and talents from Him, & His creation; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God or Jesus; Paul stopped going to church after others started to snub him for his work, but starts going again (*Spoilers* Later, the temporary pastor tells Paul that others are opposed to his presence at church because of his work appearing to be sympathetic to Nazis, but Paul tells him a bit about his true intentions and the pastor explains to the congregation that sinners cannot be banned from the church or the pews will be empty *End of Spoilers*); Paul crosses himself and dips his hand in holy water at a Catholic church (having previously been coached on what to do); Mentions of God, Jesus, gifts from Him, & His creation; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles; Mentions of churches/cathedrals, church going, services, hymns, pastors, & sermons; Mentions of Christians, Catholics, & Jewish people; Mentions of sin & sinners; A few mentions of monasteries & monks; A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A mention of synagogues (that were bombed);
*Note: Religious exclamations such as “heavens” and “for heaven’s sake” are both said once; Mentions of evil (mostly referring to what the Nazis are doing); A couple mentions of luck & being lucky; A mention of a French writer (Henry de Montherlant) believing that that Germany’s conquest of France is the “inevitable triumph of paganism over Christianity”; A mention of a food being described as “heavenly”; A mention of a little boy listening to stories with “worshipful fascination”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’ and seven ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Lying (due to government secrets and protecting others; also including getting fake papers/IDs); Eavesdropping; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Being held at gun-point, Being shot at, Being on a sinking ship, & Preparing to possibly die (up to semi-detailed); Grief (Paul for his late wife & him remember her dying, barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing a shooting/attack, people shot, & a bomb/explosion (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a murdered body & blood (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Paul is given alcoholic drinks at parties, but does not drink them; Set during World War II, this book frequently mentions the war, deaths, fighting, battles, violence, Hitler, Nazis, boats and planes being shot/destroyed, weapons, explosions and bombs, internment camps, prisons of war, spies, arrests, jails/prisons, executions, firing squads, & torture; Mentions of the bombing of Pearl Harbor; Mentions of a murder, murderer, the body, & blood (deemed an accident, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths (including from cancer and the Spanish Flu) & grief (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of possible drownings; Mentions of terrorists, vandalism, sabotage, & workers’ strikes; Mentions of blackmail & threats; Mentions of injuries & pain; Mentions of a little girl being snubbed because of her father’s work & her sadness; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip, rumors, & eavesdropping; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & drunks; Mentions of cigarettes & smoking; A few mentions of other wars & the Great Depression; A few mentions of abductions; A few mentions of stealing & thieves; A mention of vomit;
*Note: Due to a lack of schooling and not feeling like she is smart, Lucie calls herself “stupid”, but Paul encourages her and says she is not stupid; Prejudice towards Jews is shown on-page (by side characters, including German soldiers); Mentions of Jewish people being forced to close or sell their businesses, being rounded up by the Nazis, & taken to camps; Mentions of communists, fascists, antisemitic laws, & hatred for capitalism; Mentions of ballets (‘Giselle’, ‘La Princesse au Jardin’, ‘Le Chevalier et la Damoiselle’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, & ‘Swan Lake’); Mentions of authors, books, & fictional characters (Ernest Hemingway, Ellery Queen, Alfred Tennyson, Walt Whitman, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry de Montherlant, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Othello’, ‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘The Greek Coffin Mystery’, ‘Moby-Dick’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Barnaby Rudge, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, & ‘The House of the Seven Gables’); Mentions of BBC; A few mentions of actors/actresses (Arletty, Danielle Darrieux, & Sacha Guitry); A mention of a painter (Edgar Degas); A mention of a brand name (Necco wafers).
Sexual Content- Fingers-to-lips touches, two hand/fingers kisses, a nose kiss, a cheek kiss, two forehead kisses, two jaw kisses, two shoulder kisses, a not-detailed kiss, ten barely-above-not-detailed kisses, four border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses, and a semi-detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Staring at lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Shivers, Warmth, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Paul is flustered when seeing Lucie remove her wraparound skirt and show her skirted black leotard (when she is teaching ballet); *Spoiler, but sharing a bed while unmarried* Paul and Lucie share a bed with his daughter, Josie, between them but it’s said that it “[didn’t] seem improper” *End of Spoiler*; Lucie has to lie that she is an unmarried mother at one point (for her and someone else’s safety); A man teases about being alone with his wife caused her to become pregnant; A reference to a wedding night (the previous comment spurs a thought about it); A male friend teases Lucie about wanting to see her legs on stage (she notes that he is harmless as long she kept away from his quick hands); Later, the man leers at Lucie’s legs again; A roommate of Lucie’s is dating a married German soldier (who says he’ll leave his wife for her, but the roommate doesn’t believe it; Because of (implied) “sleeping with” him, she receives extra food; *Spoiler, but possible out-of-wedlock pregnancy* It’s later hinted that Lucie’s roommate could be pregnant when Lucie notices the woman has gained weight *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of prostitutes, brothels, lovers, & cheating (including married German soldiers cheating on their wives when abroad); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, & chaperones; Mentions of flirting & jealousy; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A couple mentions of Frenchwomen dining with German officers to get a good meal and “maybe more”(Lucy thinks she would rather starve than do this); A mention of French women sleeping with German soldiers to receive food.
-Lucille “Lucie” Girard, age 26-27
-Paul Aubrey, age 31-32
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1940-1942
403 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
Reasons I could never be a spy (especially in wartime):
1- the anxiety of it all would make my stomach a wreck
2- my knees would pop when I’m sneaking around and give me away
Thankfully, these two main characters didn’t have these problems because they had secrets and lives depending on them. The last quarter of this book was way more intense than I was expecting and lots of suspenseful moments happened that made me able to put this book down.
For the first chunk of this book, I was mostly just doing my best to follow along. You definitely ought to have some historical background on France during World War II—or be prepared to do bunny trails of research I like did while reading! With some fiction books set in this time period, you can get by with basic knowledge and what is shared in the story, but I’ve noticed in past books I’ve read by this author (and this book as well) that there was a lot about the history of the time period and setting. To the point it can be a little overwhelming and/or had to keep up with, but I feel like I just read a very engaging history lesson! Like all World War II books, I learned even more about the time period and all the different countries’ dynamics in this book.
I don’t know how much teen readers would enjoy this book, unless it’s an older teen who is very interested in WWII. The main characters kissed quite a bit towards the last half of the book, but it didn’t feel like a lot of details despite being a lot of kisses. Maybe a little soon after the death of his wife (😅) but content wise wasn’t one I would firmly recommend against—besides a few suggestive comments (such as German soldiers visiting prostitutes when already being married & a married man making a comment about his wife becoming pregnant; There is also a scene of the main characters sharing a bed with his young daughter between them, but it was not a sexual scene due to the circumstances around it). I would suggest 17+ probably in general due to all the elements of history, war details, and the romance elements, but slightly younger could potentially be okay with it as well if highly interested in the time period.
See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
