Reviewed by Emma Crowley
For months, Marianne’s resistance network has carried out courageous missions from a remote farmhouse in southern Provence, aiding the Nazis’ downfall. But one fateful night, they are viciously ambushed as German soldiers storm in, scattering, capturing or killing every last person there.
Mourning the loss of her friends, Marianne will need every ounce of courage to survive. Not only has her life as a secret agent been critically compromised, but her heart has been shattered. Because Jack, her darling fiancé and fellow spy, fled in the chaos – and is accused of being the traitor who betrayed them.
Desperate to believe Jack’s innocence and that their love was true, to her horror Marianne discovers he has been seized by the Butcher of Lyon, a Nazi more brutal and ruthless than any other. Now it is more imperative than ever that Marianne finds Jack – before he reveals the names of every undercover agent in France, or before he is murdered for remaining loyal.
So Marianne sets out on the most dangerous mission of her life, and the most personal. With her tight-knit group of fellow women agents by her side, she risks everything to rescue Jack. Can she save her fiancé before it’s too late – and change the fate of the war in the process? Or is she blind to the heart-breaking truth, and simply sacrificing her own life?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Silence Before Dawn to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Silence Before Dawn is the first in the Wartime Resistance series by Amanda Lees. Set in France during World War Two it follows a group of resistance fighters led by a strong woman named Marianne who has such guts and ingenuity about her that you can’t fail but feel an ever increasing amount of admiration for her the further the book develops. It was brilliant to read of several women who put their lives on the line time and time again in order to try and secure freedom for France and to rid the world of the tyrant that was Hitler.
It was a refreshing to read of a different aspect to the war with women getting such a focus. Right from the get go this was an action packed, thriller of a read with a rapid pace full of twists and turns and many curveballs. It really was edge of your seat stuff with the reader never knowing who to believe as to who the mole within the groups could be. The author suggested it could be one person but to me this seemed way too obvious and for Marianne she has to wrestle with her emotions as things get very personal for her in more ways than one. Will her heart rule over her head and prevent her from seeing the bigger picture and long term goal or will sense prevail?
Set during 1944 as the war was reaching its climax this story takes the reader deep within the French countryside where Marianne is in charge of a network of resistance fighters whose sole goal is to cause as much hassle for the Germans as possible. Blowing up railway lines, interrupting conveys, learning top secret information, saving people from capture they literally do it all. As I mentioned within the first chapter we were straight into the action and although I would normally appreciate this no frills or fuss approach I found it slightly disconcerting at first because it felt like I was meant to know who the characters were, what their connections to each other were and what had previously happened up to the point where we were introduced to them.
It took me a little time to establish who was who, what side they were on and what the main strand of the plot was but once I did this I found myself deeply invested in the exploits of Marianne and her network. They were brave, daring and courageous and had no qualms about getting stuck into the messiest of situations. It really struck me that I was reading about one network of many of the time and the creative brilliance, flair and genius of everyone involved was just incredible. They literally thought of every little detail and knew no matter how small or insignificant something may seem it would all help with Operation Dragoon which the British had set up to drive the Germans from the south of France.
As the story develops we learn more about Marianne and the fact she is a secret agent. This blew my mind because given her name and that she was in the thick of the action in the first chapter I just automatically presumed she was a French woman very much stepping out of her comfort zone. She has many sides to her personality and flashback chapters give us a deeper insight into those. When she learns her fiancée Jack has been captured along with several other men, Marianne is distraught and so begins the main point/aim of the story. Jack and these men need to be rescued before the infamous brut Klaus Barbie gets his hands on them and the worst fate could occur. But someone has been leaking key strategic information to the Germans and Marianne is shocked to learn that her beloved Jack is the culprit. How could someone so close to her have caused so much damage and done the impossible putting so many lives at risk? Does he deserve to be rescued or should he be left to rot in prison and suffer the torture Barbie is renowned for meting out?
Deep down I think Marianne put her country, her mission and the resistance network first and foremost. She was always aware of what the long term goals were and never deviated from them but at the same time Jack was the love of her life and despite what she had heard she couldn’t just give up on him. Marianne was someone who could put her femininity aside easily and assume a strong place amongst men. She was a cool headed leader who was brave and respected and I loved how she numerous times she pushed herself beyond endurance. The need for revenge and retribution burnt bright within her and made her a fantastic leader.
Maggie is the networks courier and my god she did some amount of work going from here there and everywhere. I would have loved to have read even more of her story. Juliette, a fellow resistance group leader, was a brave woman to send her family to safety in order to help with the network and subsequently she joined forces with Marianne to set a plan in place where Jack and his fellow prisoners could be rescued. Madame Suzanne and Countess Christina were brilliant additions to the story and as the women joined forces as one and a plan was hatched with the networks members all working together my heart was in my mouth as to what the eventual outcome would be? Would there be disaster, death and destruction or would the plan prove successful? Will the truth out or is the truth already out there and Marianne is making unnecessary sacrifices?
The Silence Before Dawn is a welcome addition to the World War Two historical fiction genre. It’s a bit different from the norm as it runs more on the thriller side but I loved that because you never knew what was coming with each turn of the page. The tension just increased with each chapter and just as you thought oh you could trust what one character was saying bang then they did something which threw everything into doubt. Marianne, Juliette, Maggie and Suzanne were all remarkable, resourceful and shrewd characters that did so much for women. They stepped outside of their comfort zones and were thrown in at the deep end into a volatile, unstable and dangerous world and they did it all without complaint.
Amanda Lees has certainly done justice to her subject matter and shown how ordinary women and let’s not forget their fellow men in the Resistance never wavered in their courage, steadfastness and perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. Their actions were extraordinary and made for a very good read. Book two in the series, Paris at First Light, will focus on Juliette and having read the blurb it sound equally as exciting if not more so than book one and thankfully it’s not long until I can read the next instalment.
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