The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey

I love historical fiction. Even more, I love historical fiction based on true stories. Give me a story set in England and France during World War II, then add a network of heroic spies and a heartstring-pulling romance and I’m in reader heaven. 

I became a fan of author Jane Healey when I read her first novel, The Saturday Evening Girls Club and with her latest novel, The Secret Stealers, she does not disappoint. 

A plot summary without spoilers: Anna Cavanaugh is a war widow in Washington, D.C. With a safe, secure life teaching French in a private school, restless Anna decides she needs more in her life, that she needs to somehow do more than watch as the world goes to war. Anna is given the chance when she is recruited to go to England and become a member of the Office of Strategic Services. She will be trained and sent to occupied France as a spy to help the French Resistance in their clandestine missions to extract information for the Nazis that could turn the tide of the war. 

The author has clearly researched the time period, giving me an excellent feel for Washington, England, and France during the second World War. With detailed descriptions and events based on historical fact, I felt like I had been transported back in time with Anna and the three women who became her close lifelong friends.  

From the first page, I was hooked. I did not want to stop turning the pages. Fast paced, with enough twists and turns to keep one’s heart pounding, this book by Healey delivers a wonderful tale of intrigue, romance, and the resilience of the human spirit as characters come together to fight and surmount terrible and dangerous odds to keep the world free from the tyranny of the Nazi regime. The story has a solid plot and outstanding character development—especially when it comes to the strong, independent, and thoroughly engaging female characters, whom I became invested in right away. This is a terrific read and shouldn’t be missed! I highly recommend this book!