D-Day Girls

The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II

By: Sarah Rose

Narrated by: Sarah Rose

National Best Seller

The dramatic, untold history of the heroic women recruited by Britain's elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory in World War II

“Gripping. Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and treachery (lots of treachery) - and all of it true.” (Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake)

In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was on the front lines. To "set Europe ablaze," in the words of Winston Churchill, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting, was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently de­classified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There’s Andrée Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE’s unflap­pable “queen”. Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence - laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war.

Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage - and the energy of politically animated women - can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.

Praise for D-Day Girls

“Rigorously researched...[a] thriller in the form of a non-fiction book.” (Refinery29)

“Equal parts espionage-romance thriller and historical narrative, D-Day Girls traces the lives and secret activities of the 39 women who answered the call to infiltrate France.... While chronicling the James Bond-worthy missions and love affairs of these women, Rose vividly captures the broken landscape of war.” (The Washington Post)

“Gripping history...thoroughly researched and written as smoothly as a good thriller, this is a mesmerizing story of creativity, perseverance, and astonishing heroism.” (Publishers Weekly)

©2019 Sarah Rose (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Inspiring and empowering - there were countless moments that gave me full-body chills. I have never read a book like this. Even if you think you don’t like nonfiction, pick up this book.” (Sarah J. Maas on NBC’s Today)

“Comprehensive and compelling... Readers get to know these amazing women as individuals as their duties unfold against the backdrop of the war.... Rose smoothly integrates developing events with biographical details and glimpses into French wartime society, creating a digestible and easy-to-follow story. This satisfying mix of social history and biography...should engage a wide audience.” (Booklist)

“Rose delivers a swift moving...expert blow-by-blow account.... A readable spy thriller that fights against the idea of ‘the original sin of women at war.’” (Kirkus Reviews)

Story very good. Hard to complete.

This was hard to finish although I wanted too hear it all. Got mundane at places.

British intelligence added many months to the war by incompetence when communicating with allied agents.

The readers voice, though better when speeded up. She read like a high school teacher.

Awful narration

The voice of the narrator is awful. Her voice is too cheerful for the subject matter.

Fascinating history!

The author does an excellent job of shining light on a daring chapter in history. I thought the story was wonderful and the performance excellent. As others have said, it does help to have the print version to go back to reference people, places, and dates.

Mesmerizing account of what women in the military accomplished in WWIi to win the War‼️

I loved reading the overall work these gallant women serving in Britain’s, & France’s military doing clandestine communication field work
in & behind military lines while living in German military controlled France, secretly entering France by boat or parachute to live among the locals with radio’s to report back to London while residing in villages in & around Paris up to the coast before
& after D day- until war ended in
everywhere in Europe ‼️

an excellent story ruined by horrible narration

I get why authors want to narrate their own work, but in this case they could not have chosen a worse reader. the nasal monotone and Prim delivery makes this book a wretched experience. add to this the fact that many of the characters are British and the author has absolutely no idea of how to render what the characters are saying and you wind up with a terrible mess. Only a handful of authors are able to narrate their own work. Audible should know better at never do this again. I wasted a credit on this

Poor narration

Narrated by the author, the content was good but the narration was horrible. It almost made me not want to finish.

Bravery of women

I learned about what brave women did during WWII. I had never heard about their honorable service.

Overall good

Overall a great story and performance but the quality of the recording is lacking. It’s very quiet so it needs to be turned up rather loud to listen to, normally not an issue but if you are listening on a phone and get an alert it’s going to be way loud.

Females of History, So Good!!

Thank you Sarah, for writing this and reading this. What a great lesson that everyone’s small part was a big impact!