People of the Book

GJC’s Jewish book reading group meets monthly, reading and discussing fiction and nonfiction books of Jewish interest written mostly (but not solely) by Jewish writers and chosen by the group. Volunteer group members lead the discussion. For more information and the link to access the Zoom meeting, please contact Nan Myers.

January’s book is “The Lost Girls of Paris” by Pam Jenoff.

The central character in this Second WW story set in Britain is Eleanor Trigg. After being recruited in a cafe, she is given a well-paid job in The Special Operations Executive, SOE; which runs a dangerous spying operation in German-occupied France. Once she figures that the reason that so many of the spies on the ground are arrested, incarcerated, and often killed is because they are men. She persuades her director, overcoming in-house opposition from the senior men, to allow her to set up an all-women’s spy unit. They will easily mix in with the local women. She succeeds and she recruits. There is a parallel story, taking place after the war in New York. Grace Healy who works for a lawyer who specializes in cases for the indigent, witnesses a car crash. The victim she discovers from the press is Eleanor Trigg. This leads to a story within a story that eventually come together in a way the reader could never foresee. Grace works out, after a lot of detective work, what Eleanor was doing in New York. The end of the novel arrives with a final twist.