Code Name Sapphire

Content warnings: Nazis, war, murder, miscarriage, severe beating, attempted rape, concentration camp, execution

Three women's lives in Belgium during World War II become intertwined in ways they never imagined.

Hannah is a Jewish German artist who begins drawing political cartoons for the resistance during WWII. When she flees Germany, she ends up relying on a cousin she lost track of years before. Hannah and Lily live together in Lily's Belgian family home with her doctor husband Nick and son Georgie.

Hannah is desperate to leave Belgium, so she asks for help from the Sapphire line of the resistance -- a group of people who smuggle downed pilots out of the country so they can continue to fight the Germans. Micheline is the leader of the line at only 23 years old. As the war goes on, Hannah discovers she, Lily, and Micheline have more in common than any of them realize.

The three women's lives will be forever changed by their associations with each other.

In the beginning, Nancy Peterson's quiet deadpan delivery is more suited to a meditation track than an emotional WWII story... With the exception of this sound in the recording that I liken to a spitty mouth. It was super distracting and took away from my enjoyment of the story. Either I got used to her or she got better because I didn't mind her narration as much as the book went on.

Recommended for fans of WWII fiction, especially those who enjoy stories of heroic females. Like much of WWII fiction, this journey isn't for the faint of heart.

Pam Jenoff is a law professor and former Foreign Affairs officer who writes bestselling historical fiction.

Publisher: Park Row (print); Harlequin Audio

Narrator: Nancy Peterson

Running Time: 13 hours, 4 minutes

Length: 352 pages

Release Date: February 7, 2023

Representation: Jewish main characters, Jewish side characters

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.