Tuesday, April 8, 2025

New Book Review: The Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester

 


Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester
Ballantine Books
Release Date: April 8th, 2025
Historical WWII Thriller Fiction
Buy at Amazon

A brave woman deals with life, love and heartbreak as she fights for France against the Nazis in a story that will leave you breathless.

My Rating for The Mademoiselle Alliance: 5 Stars and a Recommended Read.

Marie-Madeleine Meric is a wife and mother in 1928 in Morocco and finds that she is an asset to her husband in intelligence work but when she discovers the daredevil inside her, Marie-Madeleine is more than a woman but something that is waiting to let loose upon the world, a woman with an adventurous heart. In 1938, the world waits with bated breath as Europe sees what Hitler will do and where Marie-Madeleine now lives in Paris after her marriage is in shambles where she meets a spy that will change her life and lead her to something that will make the World War so perilous to the point where Marie-Madeleine will wonder if she has the strength to continue as the Nazis converge on her beloved France. This is her story as a woman who ran the largest spy network in France during a war that will save many lives while putting their own in crosshairs. Marie-Madeleine Merec Fourcade's story is one filled with loss, life, strength and heartbreak.

My Review for The Mademoiselle Alliance:

THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE is a story filled with intriguing characters that fill the pages of the book that are both human and real. Natasha Lester is one of my favorite historical fiction authors to read and she always brings her subjects to life within her books. Marie-Madeleine Meric is a woman who when we are introduced to her, is newly married and is in Morocco, dabbling in intelligence to help her new husband in 1928. It's both exotic and intriguing to her and for the reader, you feel everything she is feeling and then some. Marie is a woman who finds her voice and purpose years later when she is back in Paris, her marriage in tatters, raising her kids alone. The author delivers a story full of highs and many lows at a time in history where you can't help but wonder how those who resisted the Nazis survived the way they did. The story flows smoothly, keeping the reader entertained and glued to the pages, with a bated breath to see what would happen next for Marie and the rest of her Alliance network. 

When we meet Marie-Madeleine, we find a young woman who is finding her place ina world in flux. Natasha Lester does a really amazing job breathing life into a person who I never heard of nor of the risks she took with her resistance network that was the biggest in Europe. Everytime I read one of Ms. Lester's books, I find myself learning about these unsung heroes of WWII that time seemed to have forgotten. WWII was a time in history that, if you don't learn from, you are doomed to repeat it and in THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE, we find many unsung heroes of this resistance network. From Marie to Leon Faye, her heart and second in command in the Alliance Network as well as so many others, it's amazing how they got information to the British for their attack on Normandy. Ms. Lester delivers a story that needed to be told, to let these heroes actions, words and deeds be known to a new generation of people who may not have known what these brave men, women and children did for France and yes, for the world in WWII France. 

Natasha Lester has shined a light on a woman who is one of the many heroes of Word War II in France that made many daring deeds and had many losses within her life during the war but she also had a deep love for France and freedom so her children and many others can experience that once again. THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE is a story with many highs, lots of lows and story that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end. I can honestly say this story was full of twists, turns and laughter and tears and an ending I so didn't see coming. This a story that needed to be told of a person who made history at a time when you never knew if you were going to live or die from the moment you woke up to when you slept that night. The brave men and women of the Resistance are the heroes alongside the military might of the Allies and these regular people fought for their country, their families and for freedom. If you haven't read one of this author's books before I highly recommend THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE as your introduction into this author's writing and storytelling. Ms. Lester delivers a sweeping story that takes you from Morocco to France to England and beyond. With each book I have read from this author, I have learned of people who were just like you and me, regular folk who did amazing things at a time when those feats were needed desperately. I look forward to seeing where Ms. Lester goes next in her next book and hope I don't have a long wait to see where she goes next.

This is an Objective Review and Not an Advertisement

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