Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Started: March 27, 2023
Finished: April 1, 2023
Format: Kindle
Genre: Historical Fiction
Josie Anderson and Arlette La Rue worked together during WWII to spy on the Nazis and pass what they learned to their handlers within the Resistance. The friends became so good at their jobs that the Nazis began calling them The Golden Doves. After the war, they both went on to live their lives haunted by their time in Ravensbruck. Josie has been working for the US government seeking Nazi doctors and convincing them to come work in the United States while Arlette works at a café hoping one day to find her kidnapped son. When a lead on Arlette's son and the doctor Josie is searching for both lead to the jungle of French Guiana, the friends quickly learn that the only people that they can trust are each other.
Martha Hall Kelly always tells full-bodied stories of the strength of women who had spent time in concentration camps and how that strength carries them through the rest of their lives. Each character's trauma and how they handle themselves is completely fleshed out and they become very real to the reader. Having read previous novels by Hall Kelly I knew this one would be fantastic. There is an author's note at the end of the book where the author explains the women she has met and how their stories helped shape hers. These are some of the best parts of any historical fiction author's novels - discovering their inspiration.