In Conversation with Natasha Lester

How did a young Parisienne mother, celebrated for her beauty and glamour, come to lead the largest spy network in France? A powerful, heartbreaking historical novel by the New York Times bestselling author.

Morocco, 1928.

Eighteen-year-old Frenchwoman Marie-Madeleine is not the kind of woman who goes through life sitting down, something her new husband can attest. Her unconventionalities – rally car driving, flying planes and dabbling in intelligence work for the government – earn her a reputation, but she knows who she is at heart: an adventurer.

Paris, 1938.

As Europe teeters on the brink of war, a chance encounter with a mysterious man codenamed Navarre turns Marie-Madeleine’s life upside down. Recruited to help build a resistance network known only as Alliance, she conceals her identity – and gender – as she navigates a perilous double life away from her children and the man she loves. Capture and death are only a heartbeat away.

Natasha Lester is the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress, The French Photographer, The Paris Secret and The Riviera House, and a former marketing executive for L’Oreal.

Her novels have been translated into many different languages and are published all around the world. When she’s not writing, she loves collecting vintage fashion, practicing the art of fashion illustration and reading about history.