Wednesday Book Discussion

A saga set in Paris during World War II uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the world's most treasured masterpieces.

On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland found herself in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume Museum, she watched the battle to liberate Paris thundering around her. Would the curator be killed before she could tell the truth—a story that could change history?

Drawn from troves of recently uncovered documents, The Art Spy chronicles the valiant actions of this key Resistance spy during the heart of the Nazis' art‑looting operation in Paris. As the war devastated Europe and Hitler amassed stolen art for his planned Führermuseum, Valland quietly undermined his henchmen at every turn: she deceived Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, passed critical information to the Resistance network, put herself in harm's way to protect the museum and her staff, and faced death in the final hours of Liberation Day.

Vivid and atmospheric, The Art Spy moves from the glittering days of prewar Paris, populated by Pablo Picasso, Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, and Frida Kahlo, to the harrowing years of the Nazi occupation, the battlefields of France, and the Resistance efforts of everyday Parisians like Valland.

Copies of The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland, by Michelle Young, will be available at the Richmond Heights Branch Reference Desk.