* 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. One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2025 - Library Journal One of Publishers Weekly's Top Nonfiction Summer Reads Picks for 2025 - Publishers Weekly "Journalist Young recaps the exploits of French Resistance hero Rose Valland in this thrilling saga... Readers will relish this riveting tale of a clever war hero playing the long game against bumbling fascists." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The story of Valland’s courage and dedication to art and justice is compelling and inspiring... Ideal for fans of espionage and strong narrative nonfiction that reads like a compelling novel." - Library Journal (starred review) "Young recounts Valland’s brilliance, courage, and sangfroid in enthralling detail as she chronicles her daring work to save the museum’s treasures and her shrewd spying for the Resistance... like Valland's zealous rescue of stolen masterpieces, Young vibrantly restores a hidden treasure to the pantheon of WWII heroes.” - Booklist (starred review) "Michelle Young shines new light on the heroic French curator Rose Valland... Young, an award-winning journalist, has an energetic and novelistic writing style... featuring dramatic cliffhangers and vivid sensory details that enhance the historical events." - New York Times Book Review "Vivid popular history spotlighting a neglected heroine." - Kirkus Reviews "A gift to history buffs and art mavens." - Newsday "In the meticulously researched and beautifully written The Art Spy , Young brings to life a forgotten heroine of World War II, one who richly deserves this posthumous portrayal. Rose Valland’s courage and ingenuity in the face of Nazi brutality is staggering, as is the shocking extent to which the Germans hunted down, looted, sold, and even burned irreplaceable works of art, many of which have never been recovered. A must read, and highly recommended." - Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue "In her masterful biography of one of the greatest unknown heroines of World War II, Michelle Young brings the French art historian Rose Valland to brilliant life and finally gives her the credit she is due. Daily risking her life during the war to document the Nazis’ looting of tens of thousands of French works of art, the quiet, unassuming Valland then helped locate and return the vast majority of those treasures aft