In high school, I was assigned a book written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the French author and pilot. I can’t remember its title, but I recall liking it immensely. I mention this because St. Ex, as he is called in The Mapmaker, is a minor character in Tom Young’s novel of the Second World War, so it was nice to make his acquaintance again.

Young drops a lot of famous names and incidents in The Mapmaker (e.g., “Nazi butcher” Klaus Barbie, the SS massacre of the French village Oradour-sur-Glane, etc.). The book is fiction, but he weaves real people into his narrative to give it verisimilitude. The conversations between characters major and minor never happened, of course, and the main protagonists never existed. But facts are facts, and the novel taught me a few I didn’t know. One of the saddest was that Saint-Exupéry disappeared — and was presumably killed — while flying a reconnaissance mission over Corsica in July 1944. Whether he was shot down or merely had engine trouble in his cantankerous P-38 has never been determined.

(In an “Historical Notes” afterword, Young points out that small parts of a plane, confirmed in 2004 to be Saint-Exupéry’s, were discovered in the Mediterranean off the coast of Marseille, and that a Luftwaffe pilot once remarked that he might’ve shot Saint-Exupéry out of the sky. The German flier added that he hoped he was mistaken because he liked the man’s books.)

WWII was a “good” war and probably had to be fought. (Unfortunately, America, perhaps indoctrinated by that good war, has been lured into many bad ones since.) The United States was dragged into the war in 1941 by the Japanese but spent much of its energy fighting Hitler. In fact, more American airmen died bombing the Germans than Marines were lost in four years of brutal combat in the Pacific.

The despicable Nazis were literary and cinematic gifts that never get old, and I’ve been reading fiction and nonfiction about WWII since I was a child. The Mapmaker is a worthy entry into the canon, and its telling the tale of the French Resistance is both appropriate and overdue. (I just saw a terrific movie about the Norwegian Resistance that reminded me how brave some people were in the face of brutal Nazi reprisals.)

Each chapter is built around a character. Frenchwoman Charlotte Denneau, the book’s titular mapmaker, draws critical maps for the Allies and is being hunted by the Gestapo. She’s one step ahead of the Nazis and their collaborator henchmen. In her scramble across occupied France, she must balance the lives of the Resistance fighters helping her against the need to protect her drawings of potential bombing targets. D-Day is approaching, and her sketches may be crucial to the Allied effort.

The Germans have destroyed many Resistance networks already. Charlotte radios London — in short bursts because the Gestapo triangulates and intercepts most messages — desperately seeking a safe flight out of France. Philippe Gerard, a French pilot who joined the Royal Air Force, is sent to retrieve her. But when his plane crashes in a muddy field, he’s suddenly on the run alongside her. Rounding out the main cast is Philippe’s sister, Lisette, a wounded Resistance fighter with something to prove.

Interspersed throughout the narrative are fictional memos from the aforementioned bestial Barbie about his hunt for Resistance fighters. Happily, they conclude with a final missive to burn all the incriminating files as the Allies approach Paris.

The author served in the U.S. military and was an airline captain. He also spent a decade with the broadcast division of the Associated Press and has written a dozen books. Judging by The Mapmaker, he’s a born researcher; his descriptions of piloting WWII aircraft are riveting. I had no idea how much work went into flying a single-engine Lysander. Just starting one was a pain in the crankshaft. Once in the air, Philippe — like his real-life counterparts — has to contend with clouds, icing, and German night fighters. On the ground, he faces the Gestapo.

We all know D-Day was a success. We won. France was freed from the Nazi yoke. I don’t know how many specific events in The Mapmaker actually happened, but it’s a rip-roaring good read. Just remind me never to go up in a Lysander.

Lawrence De Maria has written more than 30 thrillers and mysteries, including Sudden of the C.I.A. and Alas, Paris.