Sisters of the Resistance: A Novel of Catherine Dior’s Paris Spy Network

Wells (The Wife’s Tale) draws on the real-life experiences of Catherine Dior during the Nazi occupation of Paris in this fast-paced story of espionage, love, and familial bonds. Yvette Foucher returns to Paris from New York in 1947 and finds work as a model for the House of Dior. Wells then flashes back three years, when Yvette, at 19, began serving in the Resistance with Catherine Dior. Yvette’s sister Gabby, a concierge at their family’s apartment building, was also a Resistance worker in Paris and helped hide the injured Jack, an English civilian and fugitive of the Vichy authorities, with whom Gabby falls in love. Yvette is smuggled out of Paris by the Resistance during the war, and Catherine is arrested. Gabby continues to write to Yvette, but Yvette’s sense of guilt over Catherine’s capture, as she believes she inadvertently led Catherine to a Nazi spy, prevents her from answering the letters. Meanwhile, Gabby learns of Jack’s fate after meeting his sister. Wells capably alternates between two time periods, creating suspense about the ever-present threat of death in Nazi-occupied Paris. With its keen attention to detail, this magnetic page-turner will please fans of WWII fiction. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (June)