Code Name Butterfly
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley January 4, 2024
Author Embassie Susberry
Distributor: Amazon
ISBN: 978-0008591519
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: January 2024
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A modern day fascination with DNA has led to many unexpected stories being discovered about family members, some hidden deep in the past and others more recent events simply never discussed with the family, considered by the people involved best left buried in the past. Every family has them, many remain undiscovered.
When a letter, along with a photograph from Ange-Marie Preston with information about Eldoie Mitchell otherwise known as le Papillon de Nuit, the famous Josephine Baker and her Grandfather, Elodie’s family are caught unaware, believing they knew all there was to know about the family history. But who is this woman that looks like a very young Elodie and why is she with Josephine Baker, wearing an outfit like that.
Elodie Mitchell is in France studying, as well as writing columns about the situation in France for a newspaper in her home town. It is 1941 and the French believe the war with Germany is a ‘Faux’ war. She does not!
She is lonely, fascinated with a man she sees often, and decides he is the man she will marry. She has decided that she will be out of Paris as soon as she can get onto a ship going to England. She is homesick, her spoken French still abysmal and her life, well….
Over a many weeks she is slowly recruited into an underground network by Grant Monteray to pose as Josephine Baker’s cousin, to gather information on German movement and infiltration in the area This sees her French improve rapidly and as she is taught a range of skills she surprises herself with how easily she adapts to the is new role. Slowly she learns to look and listen, seeking out those who are happy to betray the secrets of France to the Germans.
Already convinced Grant Monterey is her perfect match even though he is a damaged man, she discovers has she fallen deeply in love with him. Her new life is one she is not all that comfortable with, the new skills she is learning make her wonder who she really is underneath the skin of Elodie Mitchell.
Based loosely on the story of Josephine Baker, (1906-1975) a famous American born French Cabaret star and her activities in the French Resistance during the Second World War for her beloved France, Code name Butterfly is rich in detail, with characters that come to life as the pages turn. The innocence of youth, the tragedy and callousness of War, the effect that fighting for a just cause has on so much of what is held dear, has been well developed.
Fiction is often an excellent vehicle to tell stories about so many brave people whose stories have gone untold through the generations. Josephine Baker was very real, larger than life and generous too her detriment. The others, Elodie, Grant, Polly, Danny and Pierre are representative of the many who risked their lives to make a small difference.
Code Name Butterfly is captivating, coloured in many hues, and very difficult to put down once begun.