‘A Woman of No Importance’ by Sonia Purnell

My Review (5 stars out of 5)

In September 1941, a young American woman posing as a journalist arrived in Vichy, France. Her task was to work with the French resistance to sabotage, upset, and divert the Nazi invaders. By 1942 the Gestapo were hot on her heels, but Virginia Hall continued to slip through the net to further disrupt them, training volunteers, staging prison escapes, and acting as radio operator to organise nighttime parachute drops of weapons and supplies.

Virginia Hall’s story is a breathtaking one. Not only was she the first woman to go undercover with the British SOE (Special Operations Executive), but her courage and ingenuity proved time and again that she was a match for all but the most devious of German spies. Restricted by a shooting accident as a young woman, she lost her leg below the knee. While Virginia herself never allowed the disability to hold her back, she came into conflict many times with people (usually men) who saw it, and her, as a barrier to rising in the ranks of both the SOE and their American counterpart, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services).

Sonia Purnell has written a meticulously researched and completely absorbing book, telling Virginia Hall’s story from start to finish. The audio book is read by the wonderful Juliet Stevenson, who brings the tale to life as only she can.

A gripping adventure to rival any of history’s most exciting and inspiring war stories.

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