HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃

Publisher’s synopsis: A woman must rescue her cousin's family from a train bound for Auschwitz in this riveting tale of bravery and resistance, from the bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris

1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.

Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Matteo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves? Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.

HerKentucky review: The body of fiction about female spies in World War II that has popped up over the past few years seems overwhelming and exhaustive. I often feel like I’ve read them all, and sometimes start to wonder whether there are any new stories to be told in the genre. However, Pam Jenoff — an author, law professor and former diplomat — consistently delivers smart, complex and compelling stories. Ms. Jenoff’s latest novel, Code Name Sapphire is a fast-paced tale of love and espionage in occupied Belgium.

Jenoff interweaves the story of Jewish cousins Lily and Hannah with that of Micheline and Matteo, siblings who front a resistance network. The novel is fast-paced, heartbreaking, and filled with the reminder that many Europeans were faced with unthinkable choices during the Nazi era. Ms. Jenoff loosely based the novel on a real-life mission to liberate a train bearing prisoners bound for Auschwitz.

As two love triangles unfold alongside betrayals and a complex rescue mission, the narrative becomes a little convoluted. I feel like this book needed one more rewrite to tighten the plot and explore the characters. It’s a well-researched historical novel that captures the heartbreak and resignation of prisoners headed toward certain death. Ms. Jenoff paints a compelling portrait of the character Lily in her journey from sheltered housewife to defiant prisoner. I wish the other characters had felt as multidimensional and realistic.

This is a good read for those of us who love the WWII historical novel, particularly the subgenre of female spy networks. I’d skip it if you’re only mildly interested in these works.

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Please note that I received an Advanced Review Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of this work. This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.