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japple

(10,459 posts)
10. I finished reading Lissa Evans' book,Their Finest and started looking for more
Sun Mar 29, 2020, 05:25 PM
Mar 2020
books about WWII. I found a bargain download at amazon, and though it is non-fiction, it reads like a novel. A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell.

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her."

The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and--despite her prosthetic leg--helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.

Virginia established vast spy networks throughout France, called weapons and explosives down from the skies, and became a linchpin for the Resistance. Even as her face covered wanted posters and a bounty was placed on her head, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped through a death-defying hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown. But she plunged back in, adamant that she had more lives to save, and led a victorious guerilla campaign, liberating swathes of France from the Nazis after D-Day.

Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall--an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

I just finished PoindexterOglethorpe Mar 2020 #1
Okay hermetic Mar 2020 #3
I'm comfort reading The King of Prussia Mar 2020 #2
Well that sounds cool hermetic Mar 2020 #5
Someone recommended MuseRider Mar 2020 #4
That heppens to me sometimes, too hermetic Mar 2020 #6
Foundation and Empire, by Asimov n/t gladium et scutum Mar 2020 #7
Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot cyclonefence Mar 2020 #8
Sounds more like hermetic Mar 2020 #9
I finished reading Lissa Evans' book,Their Finest and started looking for more japple Mar 2020 #10
Fascinating! hermetic Mar 2020 #11
An old (well, 1983) Tim Powers book getting old in mke Apr 2020 #12
Good deal! hermetic Apr 2020 #14
I'm not reading ANYTHING!! Tracer Apr 2020 #13
Hopefully hermetic Apr 2020 #15
Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Fiction»What Fiction are you read...»Reply #10