The Power of Books
March is upon us and I’m finally feeling alive again. In the dark days of February, I found that books gave me solace from the noise of the world and the political chaos that grows louder by the day. One book in particular captured my attention. Prescient, powerful, poignant, and incredibly important today, it is the true story of long forgotten courageous individuals who risked their lives to create an escape route for Allied servicemen and French troops trapped in Nazi-controlled Occupied France in 1940-41.
The book is Matthew Goodman’s Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal. My preordered copy arrived February 4th—the day it was released—and I was immediately captured by the stories within stories woven into the author’s masterfully researched narrative. It filled my evenings, and its pages read like a movie.
Soon after finishing it, I packed the author’s two prior New York Times bestselling historical narratives (Eighty Days and The City Game) and Paris Undercover into a red canvas New York Public Library tote and drove to the Nevada County Public Library. Goodman, a Brooklyn native, is a familiar figure in the library’s research room. During the pandemic quarantine, the grand library was closed to the general public for a year when the author was doing research on his new project. To his great relief, an exception was made and he had the library’s archives to himself.
The morning of my visit to our local library, I was on a mission. A helpful young man at the checkout desk listened as I talked about Goodman’s books, two of which the library already has in its collection. He then helped me submit a form recommending Matthew Goodman’s new book be added to the library’s collection. On the form, a link to my recent blog about the author and his books was also provided: https://www.cathysalter.com/blog/paris-undercover.
It takes five or six years for Goodman to research, write and publish his works of historical narrative. Once a new book is released, it’s up to the author and his publisher to bring the book to the attention of readers like you and me. Independent bookstores play a key role in spreading the word by hosting author events. One such event featuring Goodman is taking place on March 20 of this month at Oblong Books in the Hudson River Valley town of Rhinebeck, NY. Terri and Tim, former neighbors of ours in Nevada City, now live 25 miles from Rhinebeck and plan to attend his talk and book signing.
While living in Columbia, MO, Kit and I organized monthly book talks for six years supporting local authors. In addition, I was on the board of Columbia’s annual Unbound Book Festival founded by author Alex George. From a distance, I’m now in cahoots with my dear friend and fellow book enthusiast Sue Dunkin who is busy spreading the word about Paris Undercover at George’s independent bookstore Skylark Books and at the Daniel Boone Public Library. Hopefully when the Unbound Book Festival takes place in 2026, Goodman will be on the program.
As a longtime supporter of Matthew’s books, I’m eager to introduce him to writers and readers in and around Nevada County, CA where Kit and I have lived since 2021. The area is filled with local writers, readers who belong to book groups and public libraries in Nevada City and nearby Grass Valley that sponsor monthly book events.
This month, I encourage you to add Paris Underground to your spring reading list. What follows is a synopsis of this remarkable book, as well as information about Goodman’s earlier books.
Paris Undercover is the incredible, never-before-told full story of two women in Nazi-occupied Paris who created a daring escape line that rescued dozens of Allied servicemen.
Etta Shiber and Kate Bonnefous are the unlikeliest of heroines: two seemingly ordinary women, an American widow and an English divorcée, living quietly together in Paris. Yet during the Nazi occupation, these two friends find themselves unexpectedly plunged into the whirlwind of history. With the help of a French country priest and others, they set out to rescue British and French soldiers trapped behind enemy lines—some of whom they daringly smuggle through Nazi checkpoints hidden inside the trunk of their car. While Kate was still in a German prison camp, Etta wrote a book about it—a memoir built on fabrications.
In researching this story, Matthew Goodman uncovered military records and personal testimonies that reveal, for the first time, the shocking truth behind Etta’s memoir and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences of its publication. More than just a story of two women’s remarkable courage, Paris Undercover is a vivid, gripping account of deceit, betrayal, and personal redemption.
Matthew Goodman is the author of four previous books of nonfiction. His 2013 book Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World was a national bestseller. His 2019 book, The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team, received the New York City Book Award and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.