The Art Spy

The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland

By: Michelle Young

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Library Journal Best Books of 2025 * New York Public Library Best Books of 2025 * Hyperallergic Favorite Art Books of 2025 * Publishers Weekly Best Books of Summer 2025 * BookBub Best Non-Fiction Release of the Season * Newsday’s Top Must-Read Book for Summer * Christian Science Monitor Best Book of May 2025 * Longlisted for the 2025 American Library in Paris Book Award

A riveting and stylish saga set in Paris during World War II, The Art Spy uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the world's most treasured masterpieces.

On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland, a woman of quiet daring, found herself in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume museum, where she had worked and ultimately spied, she could see the battle 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 museum curator be killed before she could tell the truth—a story that would mean nothing less than saving humanity’s cultural inheritance?

Based on troves of previously undiscovered documents, The Art Spy chronicles 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. While Hitler was amassing stolen art for his future Führermuseum, Valland, his undercover adversary, secretly worked to stop him. She came face to face with Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, passed crucial information to the Resistance network, and faced death during the last hours of Liberation Day.

At the same time, a young Free French soldier, Alexandre Rosenberg , was fighting his way to Paris with the Allied forces battling to liberate France. Alexandre's father was the exclusive art dealer for Picasso, Matisse, George Braque, and Fernand Léger. The Nazis had taken everything from their family—their art collection, their nationality, their gallery, and their home in Paris.

Vivid and atmospheric, The Art Spy moves from the glittering days of pre-War Paris, home to geniuses of modern culture, including Picasso, Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, and Frida Kahlo, through the tension-riddled cities of Europe on the eve of war, to the harrowing years of the Nazi occupation of France when brave people such as Valland and Rosenberg risked everything to fight monstrous evil.

In the spirit of Hidden Figures, with the sweeping narrative of The Rape of Europa, The Art Spy is an inspiration for us all—an extraordinary tale of courage in a time of violence.

Fantastic!

Beautifully woven story of many lives, artworks and countries at war. Thank you for uncovering and sharing about Rose’s journey and of all those that helped in her mission and fought against the horrors of the Nazis. The narration was great too :)

Perfect Prep for Paris

I have been a fan of Rose Valland for decades. I own her journals, through the Monuments Men and Women organization. This book brought Rose's full story to life with color and details to hold my attention deeply.

As I walked through the Louvre, Then to Jeu de Paume, I could see each event in detail in my imagination.

Amazing story!

Wonderful story, beautifully told. Very well laid out and detail is amazing. Content is riveting

Fascinating and inspiring story

I first learned of Rose Valland from the 2014 movie “The Monuments Men” in which the character based on Rose is played by Cate Blanchett. I was intrigued to learn more about her story and was delighted to find this book. It is a story full of twists and turns, disasters and lucky breaks, and the amazing courage, tenacity, canniness, and dedication of one woman facing seemingly impossible odds during the four years of Nazi occupation of France. The narrator does a superb job, letting the author’s words and the inherent drama of the story speak for themselves, Highly recommended to anyone interested art history and this critical period in the 20th c.

Rose would have approved!

The author was able to make the necessity of details remain interesting. I've read a few books on this subject, and I feel that I learned some new and interesting aspects of the acquisition/theft of art, both during and after WWII. The narration was very, very good.