Dragonfly

 Dragonfly by Leila Meacham 576 pages

Fiction writing 101: The author needs to know her/his character(s) like the back of her/his hand in order to know which details to leave in and which to leave in. Most of the time, readers never know the character(s) that in depth. But author Leila Macham put everything in this book. Often, putting in everything doesn’t work, but here it does. This is the first of hers (this is her eighth novel) that I have read, and I wonder if all her work is this detailed. Guess I’ll have to do a little research.

In 1942 America, five twenty-somethings receive a letter from the Office of Strategic Services [OSS] (forerunner to today’s CIA) asking them if they are willing to fight for their country. Note: This is not a draft notice.  They come from different parts of the country and have different careers. Yet, all are willing, especially after Pearl Harbor, to do their part.

The three men and two women have been carefully selected and report to “the man in brown.” Once they accept, they are given an OSS code name and a working name. Their operation is assigned the code name “Dragonfly.” Then they are dropped in Occupied Paris and embedded among high-ranking Nazis. Thank heavens Meacham provide a Cast of Characters before the story even begins, otherwise I would have been lost.

They communicate via a mural that one of the women paints on a blank convent wall, with permission of course, and a secret drop box located nearby.

The novel is broken into four parts: “The Recruits,” where readers get a lot of background information on the intrepid spies. Then Part Two is “The Missions,” where readers learn the groups’ objective. Next is “The Game” (1942-1944), the young spies at work. To me this section is the best as it had most tension because more was at stake. The last is “Home” (June 1944 – September 1962). Readers are brought full circle with the recruits and learn the end of their stories.

All-in-all, this was a good book. Not great, but good. I found it interesting enough to keep reading, but I took me a good three weeks to finish it. Highly unusual for me. And that is why Dragonfly receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.