Today I am please to have The Silence Before Dawn by Amanda Lees on the blog today. Thanks to Bookouture for the invite to join and the ARC from NetGalley.
Nazi-occupied France, 1944: I tear open the envelope, extracting a sheet of folded paper. I read it, my heart cracking with every word. There is no mistaking the name of the man who betrayed us. Jack. My beloved fiancé – and now, a traitor.
For months, Marianne’s resistance network has carried out courageous missions from a remote farmhouse in southern Provence, aiding the Nazis’ downfall. But one fateful night, they are viciously ambushed as German soldiers storm in, scattering, capturing or killing every last person there.
Mourning the loss of her friends, Marianne will need every ounce of courage to survive. Not only has her life as a secret agent been critically compromised, but her heart has been shattered. Because Jack, her darling fiancé and fellow spy, fled in the chaos – and is accused of being the traitor who betrayed them.
Desperate to believe Jack’s innocence and that their love was true, to her horror Marianne discovers he has been seized by the Butcher of Lyon, a Nazi more brutal and ruthless than any other. Now it is more imperative than ever that Marianne finds Jack – before he reveals the names of every undercover agent in France, or before he is murdered for remaining loyal.
So Marianne sets out on the most dangerous mission of her life, and the most personal. With her tight-knit group of fellow women agents by her side, she risks everything to rescue Jack. Can she save her fiancé before it’s too late – and change the fate of the war in the process? Or is she blind to the heart-breaking truth, and simply sacrificing her own life?
Based on true stories of the fearless women secret agents – and their tales of bravery, betrayal and love – this is the first book in the heart-pounding, heart-wrenching and totally addictive World War Two Resistance series. Perfect for readers of The Nightingale, All the Light We Cannot See and Ellie Midwood.
A book based on the true stories of the women secret agents of the second World War. I have a love of historical fiction anyway and when you base it on true stories from that time I’m hooked. The first in a series about the Resistance from that time, I couldn’t wait to see how the series would start.
Set in France, Nazi-occupied 1944 France. A darker place than ever before. We see a resistance movement that Marianne has been heading up, attacked by the Germans. With them broken up, Marianne finds herself having to attempt to find a way to rescue her fiancé, Jack from the man known as the Butcher Of Lyon.
Full of suspense and danger, this was made all the more captivating knowing Marianne was created with the brave women who acted as secret agents at this time. It isn’t often we hear of this side of the war and this was so interesting to me.
Amanda Lees has definitely written an impressive story that does make you invest in Marianne, I felt everything she felt throughout the book. This is testament to Amanda Lees’s amazing characterisation. All detailed and so vivid in my mind, I could see them as the story unfolded.
It was a read that shows us how dangerous the work of the Resistance was and the losses they had to bear. The personal tragedies and the heartbreak too. We see how far they would go to attempt to rescue one of their own. Then there are the traitors. I thought I knew but then, the shock upon finding out showed this a cleverly written book.
Fast paced, with plenty of suspense and action that kept me reading far past my bedtime. I personally am so glad there will be another, based on one of the characters in this book. Again, a book that entertained and educated me. If you love a great historical fiction story that is inspired by real women, I highly recommend this book!
Buy link(s)
https://geni.us/B0B4PJXTRYsocial
Audible:
Listen here: http://ow.ly/mqen50Kvhl1
Author Bio:
Amanda was born in Hong Kong and survived both a convent boarding school and a Jesuit boys’ school before being summarily ejected from the latter. She gets her thirst for adventure from her parents who met in the jungle in Borneo where her mother had set up a hospital and her father, a former Gurkha Intelligence officer and Oxford-educated spy, was probably up to no good.
She is the author of the bestselling satirical novels Selling Out and Secret Admirer (published by Pan) which have both received critical acclaim and have been translated into several languages. Her major YA thriller trilogy, Kumari, Goddess of Gotham, was written as a tribute to her mum, who died a couple of months before Amanda got the idea for a series which would reflect her own exotic childhood. Kumari was nominated for the Guardian Children’s Book Prize and the Doncaster Book Award. It featured as Redhouse Book Of The Month and Lovereading4kids Book Of The Month.
A broadcaster as well as an actress and novelist, Amanda appears regularly on BBC radio and LBC and was a contracted writer to the hit series Weekending on Radio 4. She researched and edited the leading directory for banks, The Banker’s Almanac, for Euromoney publications while also covering stories of shady dealings in the City for them. She has written for, or contributed to, The Evening Standard, The Times, New Woman, US Cosmopolitan, Bulgaria’s Vagabond and Company Magazine as well as numerous online publications and has two non-fiction books published under a pen name.
Amanda has conducted a love coaching phone-in from the sofa of Richard & Judy and wooed the viewers on Channel 5 Live. She won an award at the Hungarian Gyor Film Festival for a short film she produced, a psychological thriller called Pros and Cons.
Her book, From Aconite to the Zodiac Killer: The Dictionary of Crime, was published by Robinson/Little Brown in July 2020 to excellent reviews. It was published in the US by Ulysses Press in May 2021. She has just completed the first in a romantic thriller series set at the end of WW2.
Author Social Media Links
Website: amandalees.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaLeesAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amandalees
Bookouture Email Sign Up: https://www.bookouture.com/amanda-lees/
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