Love, Loyalty and Espionage: Read our Review of The Legends of the Lost Lilies by Jackie French

Love and loyalty are never simple – especially in war.

A mysterious telegram that says, ‘Lily needs you’ arrives just before a plane from war-ravaged England lands in one of Sophie Greenman’s paddocks.

Sophie, Countess of Shillings, has been living a quiet life on her property in Australia, until love and loyalty draw her back to England where she once trained to become one of Miss Lily’s ‘Lovely Ladies’. Now, in 1942, Shillings Hall trains women to become espionage agents.

Sophie’s mission? To seek out disaffected German officers prepared to kill Hitler.

Across Europe women like Sophie, or Parisian couturier Violette, or German Prinzessin and spy Hannelore, must determine where their deepest loyalty lies. And as Europe slowly disintegrates, Miss Lily must also decide her final fate.

I’m a big reader of historical fiction, and I love Jackie French; she writes sweeping historical fiction that transports readers away from their day-to-day to times that were far more dangerous, exciting and thrilling. Or so it seems in her novels. She’s also prolific, which her readers appreciate; it was only late last year that I devoured her last novel, The Angel of Waterloo, and now I’m being treated with The Legends of the Lost Lilies.

The Legends of the Lost Lilies is the fifth and final instalment in French’s bestselling Miss Lily series. Based on real-life events, this is the story of the women who wielded immense, yet secret power. Here, French tells the story of the remarkable women who have been carefully left out of our war histories: those lost lilies of allied espionage.

Like the previous instalments, Legends of the Lost Lilies follows Sophie Greenman, Countess of Shillings. As always, Sophie is a gutsy, smart and absolutely dazzling protagonist, and it was such a pleasure to follow the conclusion to her story here. Other familiar faces also return for this thrilling conclusion, including Violette and Hannelore, and it was so exciting to watch these fabulous female characters in action once more.

Meticulously researched, richly imagined and utterly engrossing, Legends of the Lost Lilies is the perfect conclusion to Jackie French’s Miss Lily series. For those of you who haven’t read the previous novels, I encourage you to go back to the beginning and start with Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies, you’ll certainly get more from this having read the first four novels. As for me, I feel like I’ve farewelled old friends, and now eagerly await French’s next offering.