The Lipstick Bureau

Intriguing Story of World War II and One Woman’s Role in the Fight
I really enjoyed the story of a woman who worked in morale operations during WWII. I loved learning about this character (who is based on a real person) who worked in Morale Operations during WWII. I didn’t know much about the black propaganda efforts, so it was interesting to me to learn about this element of warcraft. I also liked the dual timelines: the book switches between 1944-1945 and 1989. It was interesting to see the main character — a true heroine — and her life during both timeframes.

Weak Plot
Normally, I’m a big fan of author Michelle Gable’s. I fell in love with her work with her debut novel, “A Paris Apartment;” then again with her fourth (“The Summer I Met Jack”) and fifth (The Bookseller’s Secret”) novels. This woman can write historical fiction!In this, her sixth novel, we get a World War II saga that is based on the real life OSS operative Lauwers. It never fails to surprise me that with all the WWII-era books out there based on real figures that there is anyone left to influence a novel.This one is a little different. Instead of resistance groups, concentration camps and those left behind on the home front, author Gable takes readers into the moral operations within the OSS (predecessor to the CIA).Czech-born Niki Novotna has become an American, a newlywed with a failing marriage, and stationed in bomb-shattered, yet liberated Rome. Her job is to write false propaganda that can dropped behind enemy lines. Looking as if the leaflets were produced in Germany, they disseminate such false information that Hitler is dead, the Allies are closer than then they think and the end of the war is very near.Then Niki’s job is to get the prepared publications in the enemy’s hands. That is the hard part! She comes up with a rather unorthodox way to get the information to the enemy, especially since the Air Force and the Army are more interested in dropping bombs than dropping propaganda. Her new idea borders on violating the Geneva Convention.This book looks at the interactions of the Special Operations: Rome than how the enemy perceives the information.Niki and her officemates are referred to as “The Lipstick Bureau,” but there were as many men in the office as women. Maybe it includes the “other” group of Italian women Niki paid to get the information out.Y’all know how I love dual narratives. Most of the book takes place from 1943-45 and 1989. It doesn’t work. It wasn’t necessary and could have easily been deleted. However, it had to stay because this book is loosely based on the real-life operative, Barbara Lauwers, and their efforts to help win the war.I found the office workings often tedious and lacking a forceful plot. Therefore, “The Lipstick Bureau” received 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

WWII Historical Fiction
This new book by Michelle Gable gives a perspective of WWII that is different from many of the books about this era. The book is based on a the work done by the OSS Morale Operations department that was based in Rome near the end of the war. Their job was to create so-called black propaganda to create confusion and loss of morale in the German armies. The main character in this book is loosely based on the experiences of Barbara Lauwers, a Czech native who married an American and emigrated to the US in 1941.Nikola left her home to marry an American in 1941. Her goal was to find out what happened to the family that she left behind and she believed that if she became part of OSS, she would have a good chance to getting to Czechoslovak to find her parents and her brother. She’s assigned to the Morale Operations department in Rome to help create negative information to reduce the morale of the German soldiers. The department is filled with a strange cast of characters and no one is really overlooking their plans. Nikola was a person who would sooner do something now and if it comes to light, then to ask forgiveness. When there were no airplanes available to drop the negative information behind enemy lines, she came up with a plan to use German pow’s to carry the information to areas where the troops would see them. She was reckless enough not to care that using pow’s was not allowed via the Geneva convention. In some cases, her plans caused great danger to the people who were disseminating the information.I found the background of the story very new and informative to me. The story was told by Nikola in 1989 as she told the story of her life during WWII. I never really connected to Nikola – I thought that she was too invested in breaking the roles so that her ideas could be used. She was treated poorly by the higher ranked officers because she was a woman.Overall, I enjoyed this book because I learned things that I had never read before about the negative propaganda. I didn’t really like the Nikola of the 1940s and she was much more likable in the part of her story in 1989.Be sure to read the author’s notes at the end of the book to find out additional information about the OSS and the real people that the fictional characters were based on.

Great book
Will enjoy this book