New Book Alert:. The Resistance Lily by Dana Levy Elgrod; Action Packed and Tear Jerking Novel of Courage and Sacrifice During The French Resistance

 New Book Alert:. The Resistance Lily by Dana Levy Elgrod; Action Packed and Tear Jerking Novel of Courage and Sacrifice During The French Resistance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If there is one thing that reading World War II literature teaches its Readers is the amount of courage and sacrifice that it took to defeat the Nazis. That is especially true during the French Resistance when Nazis were breathing down the necks of the French populace. The French had three choices: pack up and leave the country, do nothing and work with the new conquerors and become a collaborator, or fight against them in the Resistance.

Dana Levy Elgrod's novel, The Resistance Lily,  explores a woman who is left with those options, how she showed courage and dedication to fight against her enemies, and became a hero.

French born American raised, Josephine Portier, is living with family friends and studying fashion design in France right when the Nazis come marching in and occupy the country. Her adopted family, to keep themselves safe, decided to cooperate with the Nazis. They became derided as collaborators.

 Josephine herself is furious with their actions and is often forced to bite her tongue when Nazi soldiers and dignitaries come to their house for dinner and dancing. She refuses to dance or talk to any German and her disgust is well known. She can't hide her real feelings like her friend, Odette, who doesn't mind being courted by a German man as long as he is handsome and rich. 

While on a disastrous double date, a diamond dealer named Gabriel Augustine, orders Josephine and Odette to return home quickly. When they are unable to, Gabriel proposes to Josephine even though they have not previously met. Josephine is confused but also is able to read between the lines that Gabriel is trying to save her life. She accepts and in good timing too, because her entire adopted family is arrested for taking part in the Resistance. 

Alone and in a country that she no longer recognizes, Josephine reluctantly moves into her new "husband's" apartment where she learns that things aren't always as they seem. It turns out Gabriel may act like a diamond dealer working with the Nazis, but is actually an undercover Allied agent. Incensed at the people who destroyed her beloved country, worried about her friends, and having an adventurous spirit, Josephine decides to become involved too. She volunteers at the local branch of the French Resistance and soon  becomes a courier and opens her home as a temporary refuge for escapees fleeing the Nazis.

 Each assignment comes with its risks and Josephine is constantly in fear of getting caught and arrested. During one task, she has to shelter two future escapees while the Nazis are invited to a social gathering in the same apartment. Josephine poses the two girls as her cousins and keeps them close to her until they are handed off to the next person who will hopefully transport them out of Occupied France.

Another time she has to warn her fellow Resistors, including some who she has befriended, of an upcoming attack. It is a tense moment as she has to hide from the Nazis and pass the information with the vague hope that her friends received it.

Besides a book of courage, this also deals with Josephine's maturity and how the war forces her to see things differently in an older, more aware light.

On a courier assignment, she is sexually assaulted by male Resistance members. She has to learn a hard lesson that just because people are on the same side, doesn't mean that they are always good people.

Similarly, she befriends Gabriel's former girlfriend who was supposed to spy on her for the Nazis. Understanding the woman's plight and loneliness, Josephine transforms a former antagonist into a friend and ally.

While both she and Gabriel are both in the business of stopping Nazis, Gabriel keeps warning her to stop taking foolish risks within the Resistance. It's a bit of misogynism on his part, thinking that she is a vulnerable woman who is just looking for adventure and acting on emotion. But he is also acting on real concern for the brave woman that he has grown to love as she has for him. He is able to use his double agent contacts to get her out of trouble at times but many times she has to rely on her own wits and allegiances within the Resistance.

This is especially prevalent when Josephine is held up "for questioning" and is tortured. Without Gabriel to aid her, she has to rely on herself. Even though she succeeds, the physical and emotional impact is quite costly and affects her for the rest of the book.

The lily in the title refers to the fleur de lis, the national flower of France and was a symbol of the Resistance, even used as a code phrase. People like Josephine were those lilies. They reminded the people around them of what is good, beautiful, courageous, and noble. Despite tyranny, their spirits remain long after the tyrants are gone.