In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

Book Summary and Reviews of The Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester

The Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester

The Mademoiselle Alliance

A Novel

by Natasha Lester

  • Publishes:
  • Apr 8, 2025, 448 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

In this stunning work of historical fiction, the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Orphan brings to life the true story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, who led one of the largest and most effective resistance networks in France during World War II.

Marie-Madeleine is not the kind of woman who goes through life sitting down, and it's a trait that not everyone is a fan of—including her husband. But what's a beautiful eighteen-year-old girl in Morocco to do if not drive in car rallies, learn to fly planes, and dabble in intelligence work for the French government?

Years later, when she returns to France after the breakdown of her marriage, she expects things to settle down a bit. But a chance meeting with a mysterious man codenamed Navarre turns her life upside down. An equally passionate patriot, he asks her to help him influence those who don't yet understand that France is on the brink of war with Nazi Germany. Her efforts are a tremendous success, and her life in the resistance begins.

When war finally does erupt, Navarre is arrested and imprisoned, leaving their Alliance network without a leader. Marie-Madeleine finds herself stepping into the role, heedless of the many men who doubt her ability to do so.

Running a spy network is exceptionally complicated, and capture and death are always only a heartbeat away for both Marie-Madeleine and the agents under her care. But she rises above expectations at every turn, achieving seemingly impossible feats of espionage that help turn the tide of the war. But the most impossible, and dangerous, of them all? Falling in love.

Natasha Lester beautifully brings Marie-Madeleine Fourcade's story to life in this powerful, heartbreaking tale of resilience that reminds us all of what it means to cherish those we love and fight for them with every breath.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Media reviews not yet available.

This information about The Mademoiselle Alliance was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

Natasha Lester is the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress, The Paris Orphan and The Paris Secret, and a former marketing executive for L'Oréal. Her novels have won several awards, been international bestsellers and are translated into twenty-one different languages and published all around the world. When she's not writing, she loves collecting vintage fashion, practicing the art of fashion illustration, and traveling the world. Natasha lives with her husband and three children in Perth, Western Australia.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more historical fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Barn
    The Barn
    by Wright Thompson
    The barn doesn't reek of catastrophe at first glance. It is on the southwest quarter of Section 2, ...
  • Book Jacket
    Tell Me Everything
    by Erika Krouse
    In her memoir Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, Erika Krouse becomes ...
  • Book Jacket: The Schubert Treatment
    The Schubert Treatment
    by Claire Oppert
    Claire Oppert fell in love with music at an early age and trained to make a career as a classical ...
  • Book Jacket
    Murder by Degrees
    by Ritu Mukerji
    Lydia Weston is among the first wave of female physicians and professors in the United States. ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

Who Said...

I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don't.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.