D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win the Second World War

by Sarah Rose

The dramatic, untold story of the extraordinary women recruited by Britain's elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory, for fans of A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE by Sonia Purnell

'Gripping: Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and treachery (lots of treachery) - and all of it true, all precisely documented'
ERIK LARSON, author of THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY

'The mission is this: Read D-Day Girls today. Not just for the spy flair but also because this history feels more relevant than ever, as an army of women and girls again find themselves in a fight for the common good'
LILY KOPPEL, author of THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB

'Thoroughly researched and written as smoothly as a good thriller, this is a mesmerising story of creativity, perseverance, and astonishing heroism'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Starred review


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In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existential battle, Winston Churchill had already created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshoot ing. Their job, he declared, was to 'set Europe ablaze'. But with most men on the front lines, the SOE was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France.

In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently de classified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There's Andree Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE's unflap pable 'queen'. Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence-laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war.

Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage-and the energy of politically animated women-can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.

• ISBN10: 0751578274
• ISBN13: 9780751578270
• Publish Date: 14 May 2020 (first published 23 April 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Sphere
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Sarah Rose writes an interesting narrative the women of the SOE and how they contributed to the Allies efforts in WWII. While maybe not the best practice as an historian, I really appreciated that Rose took the time to humanize each of these women and display their quirks, habits, and unique personalities alongside their romances and specific functions within the war.

This book is definitely an overview - it's a good place to start learning about women in espionage in WWII. Each of the women are fascinating her own right, and stories that should be passed on. I recommend this book for its accessibility to any reader as well as its fine overview on a rarely discussed contribution to a historic period.

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