A riveting and stylish saga set in Paris d uring World War II\, THE ART SPY uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltra ted the Nazi leadership to save the cultural legacy of the West.
\nO n August 25\, 1944\, Rose Valland\, a woman of quiet daring\, found hersel f in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume mu seum\, where she had worked and ultimately spied\, she could see the battl e to liberate Paris thundering around her. The Jeu de Paume\, co-opted by Nazi leadership\, was now the Germans' final line of defense. Would the mu seum curator be killed before she could tell the truth--a story that would mean nothing less than saving humanity's cultural inheritance \;
\ nBased on troves of previously undiscovered documents\, "The Art Spy" c hronicles the brave actions of the key Resistance spy in the heart of the Nazi's art looting headquarters in the French capital. A veritable female Monuments Man\, Valland has\, until now\, been written out of the annals\, despite bearing witness to history's largest art theft. While Hitler was amassing stolen art for his future Fü\;hrermuseum\, Valland\, his unde rcover adversary\, secretly worked to stop him.
\nAt every stage of World War II\, Valland was front and center. She came face to face with Re ichsmarschall Hermann Gö\;ring\, passed crucial information to the Res istance network\, put herself deliberately in harm's way to protect the mu seum and her staff\, and faced death during the last hours of Liberation D ay. She also singlehandedly provided information to stop the last train of looted artworks--bearing paintings by Picasso\, Monet\, Cezanne\, Gauguin \, Braque\, Degas\, Modigliani\, and Toulouse-Lautrec--from leaving France .
\nVivid and atmospheric\, "The Art Spy" moves from the glittering days of pre-War Paris\, home to geniuses of modern culture\, including Pic asso\, Josephine Baker\, Coco Chanel\, Le Corbusier\, and Frida Kahlo\, th rough the tension-riddled cities and resorts of Europe on the eve of war\, to the harrowing years of the Nazi occupation of France when brave people such as Valland risked everything to fight monstrous evil.
\nIn the spirit of Hidden Figures\, with the sweeping narrative of "The Rape of Eu ropa" and the depth of "The Resistance Quartet"\, "The Art Spy" is an extr aordinary tale of a female hero whose courage and tenacity in a time of vi olence and terror is an inspiration for us all.
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