5-STAR REVIEW: THE THREE LIVES OF ALIX ST. PIERRE by Natasha Lester

Publication Date: January 10, 2023

Alix St. Pierre. An unforgettable name for an unforgettable woman. She grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamor, but, as an orphan, never truly felt part of that world. In 1943, with WWII raging and men headed overseas to fight, she lands a publicity job to recruit women into the workforce. Her skills—persuasion, daring, quick-witted under pressure—catch the attention of the U.S. government and she finds herself with an even bigger assignment: sent to Switzerland as a spy. Soon Alix is on the precipice of something big, very big. But how far can she trust her German informant…?

After an Allied victory that didn’t come nearly soon enough, Alix moves to Paris, ready to immerse herself in a new position as director of publicity for the yet-to-be-launched House of Dior. In the glamorous halls of the French fashion house, she can nearly forget everything she lost and the dangerous secret she carries. But when a figure from the war reappears and threatens to destroy her future, Alix realizes that only she can right the wrongs of the past …and finally find justice.

Orphaned at age 13, Alix St. Pierre is taken in by the van der Meers, the wealthy family of her best friend, Lillie. She is schooled in Switzerland and engaged to affluent Bobby—whom she doesn’t love—but isn’t truly accepted into those social circles. 

1942, she is drafted into the OSS and feels she can make a difference in the shadow war being waged by the partisans against the fascists and Nazis in Italy. 

In The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre, author Natasha Lester tells the story of the intrepid Alix St. Pierre, a woman before her time who is determined to forge a life of a 21st-century woman stuck in post-WWII era times. 

The book is split primarily into three parts—Alix’s early years, Alix’s years in the OSS, and post-WWII working for Christian Dior. 

We see through Alix’s eyes her hopes and dreams of a life in Paris that are thwarted due to Hitler’s evil ambitions. But Alix deftly pivots, is recruited into the OSS, and sent to Switzerland to aid the Italian resistance. 

Alix is wracked with guilt when a mission goes horribly awry, and nine agents and resisters are killed because of bad information she is given by a double agent, La Voce. 

Fast-forward to Paris, 1947. Alix is hired on as the PR director of a little know couture house named Christian Dior. 

Alix is faced with threats and sabotage when preparing for the big reveal of their first show. But who is behind those threats?

Lester is brilliant in her prose and shows that war isn’t just black and white but also several shades of gray—as is life. Her characterizations brought the book to life. With complex and rich characters, sumptuous and glorious illustrations of couture, heartwrenching depictions of atrocities, explicit portrayals of excess and hypocrisy, callous decisions and the impacts they created, and the blatant bias against women. 

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre is a historical fiction, spy novel, WWII fiction, couture history, a story of feminism, and a love story wrapped into one dynamic and spectacular novel. 

Natasha Lester is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS, THE PARIS ORPHAN and THE PARIS SECRET. Her new book, THE THREE LIVES OF ALIX ST PIERRE, is out on 28 September in Australia/NZ, 10 January in North America and summer 2023 in the UK.

Prior to writing, she worked as a marketing executive for L’Oreal, managing the Maybelline brand, before returning to university to study creative writing.

Natasha’s books have been translated into many different languages and are now published all around the world.

She lives in Perth, Western Australia with her 3 children and loves fashion history, practising the art of fashion illustration, collecting vintage fashion, travelling and, of course, books.