Join us this Armed Forces Day as we host author Sarah Rose who will be reading from her new book, D-DAY GIRLS: THE SPIES WHO ARMED THE RESISTANCE, SABOTAGED THE NAZIS, AND HELPED WIN WORLD WAR II, the dramatic, untold story of the extraordinary women recruited by Britain’s elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory. After the reading, Sarah Rose will be signing copies of the book.
This is event is free and open to the public.
DATE: Saturday, May 18th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
LOCATION: The Doylestown Bookshop. Get directions from your location to the Doylestown Bookshop.
ABOUT D-DAY GIRLS
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existential battle, Winston Churchill created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting. Their job, he declared, was to “set Europe ablaze.” But with most men on the front lines, the SOE was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France.
In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the thrilling story of three of these remarkable women. There’s Andrée Borrel, a scrappy and streetwise Parisian who blew up power lines with the Gestapo hot on her heels; Odette Sansom, an unhappily married suburban mother who saw the SOE as her ticket out of domestic life and into a meaningful adventure; and Lise de Baissac, a fiercely independent member of French colonial high society and the SOE’s unflappable “queen.” Together, they destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence—laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war.
Rigorously researched and written with razor-sharp wit, D-Day Girls is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance: a reminder of what courage—and the energy of politically animated women—can accomplish when the stakes seem incalculably high.
"Gripping...Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and treachery (lots of treachery) - and all of it true." -Erik Larson, author of Devil in the White City
ABOUT SARAH ROSE
Sarah Rose is the author of For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. She has written for the Wall Street Journal, Outside, The Saturday Evening Post, and Men's Journal. In 2014, she was awarded a Lowell Thomas Prize in Travel Writing.
CAN'T MAKE THE EVENT, BUT STILL WANT A SIGNED COPY?
If you can't come to an event and still want an autographed copy of the book, you may purchase titles in advance either in the store, over the phone (215.230.7610), or through our website. When buying online, simply use the checkout comments field to indicate that you would like us to request the author's signature at our event before shipping it to you. Available books are located at the bottom of this page.
Limited parking available at event location, but street parking available in surrounding neighborhood. In addition, free parking available at the Bucks County Parking Garage near the Courthouse on Broad Street. Free day and evening parking. Entrance on Broad Street. Additional entrances on Union and Doyle Streets. More information about parking in Doylestown can be found at http://www.doylestownborough.net/visitors/parking.
All event-related inquiries can be sent to our Director of Marketing, Events & Schools, Krisy Elisii, at krisyparedes@gmail.com.
