A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

by Sonia Purnell

The never-before-told story of one woman's heroism that changed the course of the Second World War

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

This spy was Virginia Hall, a young American woman--rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg--who talked her way into the spy organization deemed Churchill's "ministry of ungentlemanly warfare," and, before the United States had even entered the war, became the first woman to deploy to occupied France.

Virginia Hall was one of the greatest spies in American history, yet her story remains untold. Just as she did in Clementine, Sonia Purnell uncovers the captivating story of a powerful, influential, yet shockingly overlooked heroine of the Second World War. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Virginia Hall came to be known as the "Madonna of the Resistance," coordinating a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train guerilla fighters. Even as her face covered WANTED posters throughout Europe, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped with her life in a grueling hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown, and her associates all imprisoned or executed. But, adamant that she had "more lives to save," she dove back in as soon as she could, organizing forces to sabotage enemy lines and back up Allied forces landing on Normandy beaches. Told with Purnell's signature insight and novelistic flare, A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Book Club, World War II, Audiobook, War

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2019

About the author

Sonia Purnell is a biographer and journalist who has worked at The Economist, The Telegraph, and The Sunday Times. Her book Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill (published as First Lady in the UK) was chosen as a book of the year by The Telegraph and The Independent, and was a finalist for the Plutarch Award. Her first book, Just Boris, was longlisted for the Orwell prize.

Reviews

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

The content is 5 stars. This was an absolutely fascinating story, and I would love to go back in time and have dinner with Virginia Hall and just pump her for stories because damn. She would have some good stories.

However, the reason I took off stars was the writing. While I finished the book in just a few days (this is a great subway read!) and it's very engaging while you're reading, it feels very surface level. I would have appreciated more time developing side characters besides two or three who get particular attention. Towards the end, a lot of names were thrown around that the reader has already seen, and I had to really, really search my memory to remember how they had helped or hindered Virginia. I also would have appreciated more tactics, how did all of Virginia's mission fit into the larger scheme of the war. A lot of the time, the writing felt like it was skimming her story because it moved so quickly. A month would pass, and we would be told that Virginia had done a lot of work, but there was no real discussion of what that work was.

But I really, really wish the author and editor would have chosen to integrate sources differently into the narrative. They're used as footnotes, and there's no reference in the text as to how the author acquired the information. For details such as numbers and troop movements, it doesn't matter as much, I don't think, because I assumed she took it from a report or other piece of information (though it would have been nice if the author integrated those in as well, with dates and places; I believe that would have made the narrative feel even more grounded).

Where it really mattered was when the author attributed thoughts and feelings to Virginia. This didn't work for me because, as the author said, Virginia almost NEVER talked about her work as a spy. She was very private and she didn't like revisiting those parts of her life, either because it was bad memories or she didn't want to take glory for something that wasn't all that glorious. All of the author's information about her was secondhand, which makes sense because Virginia didn't leave much of a paper trail and she's also dead, so she couldn't be interviewed. When you read the acknowledgements, you're led to assume that a lot of the more personal details came from the author's extensive interviews with Virginia's niece. That's totally fine, she's an excellent source of information. I just wish that in the narrative there would have been a little distancing, even something like: "It's likely, based on discussions with her niece, who knew her well, that Virginia [felt/thought/etc.]..." The narrative is currently written as if the author knows, for sure, this is how Virginia was thinking and feeling at that exact moment, as if she had written it in a diary. But she didn't, and in the later chapters, when the niece is specifically mentioned, she says that Virginia almost never talked to her about her work. So why does the author phrase it like that?

It is, admittedly, a very small thing, but I came away with the distinct impression that the author was putting words and feelings into Virginia's mouth. That, combined with the fact that when I closed the book I thought, "Well, that felt very surface-level", made me dock a few stars.

tl;dr: The content is 5 stars, hands down; Virginia Hall is a badass and is one of the reasons why the Allies won WWII. The writing is closer to a 3, because sources weren't integrated, thoughts and feelings were attributed to Hall when we cannot say for certain she felt/thought those things, and it wanted to cover so much information that it never dug deep into certain topics (tactics, how Virginia's set up her contacts besides "talking").

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the fact that in recent years, more and more formidable women are being brought out of shadows of obscurity, by wonderful authors. That their rightful place in history is being applauded and restored, at last recognized for their talents and bravery.

Virginia Hall is one such woman, an American who was the first woman sent by the allies to set up cells and send back information, as part of the French Resistance. She worked with a major handicap, one prosthetic leg, which gave her a very recognizable walk. She ended the war being one of the most wanted women by the Germans, but this did not stop her. She changed her walk, her looks and set up operations that were integral to the allied forces in retaking France. At one time she has 400 Resistance volunteers, running missions which she herself planned.

At wars end she was not treated fairly, her talents not used to their full capacity, her work little recognized. She would be confined to a desk in the newly formed CIA. She is, however, now recognized, new agents are taught about her, her methods in France in recruiting are ones we used in the middle East, and a hall at Langley bears her name. It's a shame this wasn't done in her lifetime.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read a novel about a couple who had worked with the French Resistance and it made me want to read a nonfiction account. “A Woman of No Importance” gave me more than I had hoped for. I am almost completely ignorant about the French Resistance but still it’s kind of shocking that I had never heard of the accomplishments of Virginia Hall. Virginia was an American woman who wanted to be a diplomat, rather than marrying well as her mother preferred, at a time when that wasn’t really done. Her hopes were thwarted when she accidentally shot her leg while hunting in Turkey and lost her leg. However, her intelligence and drive led her to join the British Special Operations Unit, and her persistence made them send her to France.

She went undercover as an American journalist and she managed to go everywhere and meet everyone and recruit people to the Resistance as she went. Her prosthetic leg made her stand out, but even so she was capable of assuming multiple identities in a single day. She was given a license to kill by her British handlers and she became extremely adept at organizing and carrying out clandestine operations and training participants. When her cover was blown she escaped over snow covered mountains. The British refused to send her back to France so she switched to America’s Office of Strategic Services (the OSS and precursor to the CIA) who sent her back to France before D-Day to lead a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis. After the war she worked for the CIA, which failed to utilize her unique skills. What can you expect from an institution that made its female employees wear white gloves to work, even if they had spent time disguised as a French peasant while they fought Nazis. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre.

There weren’t any dull parts to this book and parts of it were quite cinematic. It really should be made into a movie and everyone should know about Virginia Hall.

[Laura Noggle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent story, disappointing delivery.

How do you take a spy story of a strong female heroine with a prosthetic leg and wild adventures and make it mundane? You suck all the fun out and make it a dry, repetitive slog — aka, this book.

It wasn't *that* horrible, it is truly an amazing part of history; it was just the way Purnell wrote it that sapped it. Should have either had a better editor or been 100-150 pages shorter.

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivid history of an extremely courageous wartime hero and a woman who helped to win WW II.

I really enjoyed this audio book by Sonia Purnell, impeccably researched and a gripping and informative read.

By 1942 Virginia Hall was the Gestapo's most urgent target, having infiltrated Vichy command, trained civilians in guerrilla warfare and spung soldiers from Nazi prison camps. The first woman to go undercover for British SOE, her intelligence changed the course of the war.

You cant but be in awe of this woman's courage and commitment to her work, she was certainly a force to be reckoned with in a man's world and earned the respect of her comrades through her intelligence, courage and determination. This book reads like a thriller but is in fact a real life spy story and the author leaves no stone unturned in her detailed account of Hall's spy missions all over France.

I listened to this one on audible and had to google images and photos online which is the one drawback of audio as opposed to the actual book, but having said that the audio version is excellent and very well narrated.

A terrific read/listen and I wish I had a hard copy for my real life bookshelf.

[Woman Reading (is away exploring) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ☆

Valor rarely reaps the dividends it should.

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II is about Virginia Hall (1906 - 1982) who eschewed publicity like any model covert spy would and whose rightful place in history was only officially acknowledged posthumously. Author Sonia Purnell conducted interviews and extensive research in American, British, and French archives. While I felt that Purnell had slipped frequently into conjecture to heighten the narrative tension or to fill the void created by absent or damaged records, Hall's accomplishments during WWII were nonetheless extensive and impressive, irrespective of gender.

But as has recurred steadfastly in history, gender played a significant role in what jobs women would be offered. Then for the women who outperformed their male colleagues, their accomplishments were suppressed. Purnell rectified that oversight with this biography that reads like a thrilling espionage novel.

Hall had aspirations contrary to those expected from a female in her socioeconomic class. She had been born into a moneyed family in Maryland. Her mother had married up in terms of wealth and social status, and she wanted her daughter to do the same. Hall was a bit of a dilettante about academic pursuits as she studied in a handful of universities in the US and in Europe during the late 1920s. She was far more diligent, however, in her acquisition of foreign languages - French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. She had dreams of a diplomatic career that were never realized as women were rare - just 6 out of 1,500 Foreign Service Officers. This was the first setback in a common pattern of rejection in her professional life. But Hall was a determined, persistent, and resourceful person who would seek "entry through the backdoor." The US State Department offered her a clerical position in Europe, which gave her a front-row seat to the rise of fascism.

In [the 1930s] what became known as the decade of lies, truth and trust were falling victim to fear, racism, and hatred.

In September 1939, Germany's attack on Poland led to declarations of war from Britain and France. While most Americans were hastily fleeing Europe for home, Hall plotted how to participate in the fight against fascism. Her backdoor strategy led to service as a military ambulance driver in France. Every job decision Hall made was a stepping stone, because ultimately she became a field operative for both the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the CIA's predecessor. Hall organized resistance fighters and strategized guerilla tactics in France, her beloved adopted country that had fallen under Nazi Germany.

Wartime responses required many competent hands, and Hall made immediate early contributions. Her mindset was that of a professional who set high standards for operations and for maintaining secrecy.

Traditionally, British secret services had drawn from a shallow gene pool of posh boys raised on imperial adventure stories, but this regard for breeding over intellect was scarcely a match for the ruthless barbarism of the Third Reich.

When 12 SOE operatives had been sent into France, they became an early British FUBAR as the Nazis immediately captured all of them. It was through Hall's meticulous planning that prison guards were bribed, tools were smuggled to the inmates, and an escape route and safe houses were arranged. Think a scaled-down version of "The Great Escape" minus the digging of tunnels.

When it came to espionage, this was a time of great distrust in France as neighbors reported any suspicious activity to the Vichy administration or to the Nazis. Hall's extensive network also faced threats of infiltration by double agents.

"Fear never abated," recalled one candid French resister. "Fear for oneself; fear of being denounced; fear of being followed without knowing it; fear that it will be "them," when at dawn one hears or thinks one hears a door slam shut or someone coming up the stairs. ... Fear, finally, of being afraid and of not being able to surmount it."

What this biography made clear was that the life of a covert operator was not the glamorous lifestyle of the debonair James Bond. No, wartime survival required living with near-paranoid loneliness and physical deprivation. Hall's cover identity had been blown by autumn 1942, and the Gestapo were actively hunting for "the most dangerous of all Allied spies." Klaus Barbie was fervently honing his reputation as the "Butcher of Lyon" in the heart of Hall's first major network of resistance fighters. In her constant vigilance, Hall depended upon SOE-supplied amphetamines to function. To aid the Allied war efforts, she augmented her skillset by learning how to become a radio operator in encrypted Morse Code. [This reminded me of Elizebeth Friedman from [book:The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies|32025298]]. Because the Nazis scanned the airwaves for illicit transmissions, Hall stayed in primitive rural outposts to evade her Nazi enemies. And worse, unlike James Bond, Hall faced aggravating sexist biases from both her upper management abroad and from the resistance leaders in the field. These discriminatory actions persisted during her entire professional life and were greater obstacles than her prosthetic leg. And this was true for a woman who eluded the Gestapo by hiking over the Pyrenees during a snowy winter.

It's no exaggeration to say that I'm in awe of Virginia Hall. She was a person who acted in pursuit of her beliefs and not for her own material gain or for public recognition. I'm glad that her highly instrumental role is seeing the light of day. Virginia Hall is an incredible inspiration and her WWII practices are taught to CIA operatives today.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Virginia Hall was an absolutely incredible figure, establishing and coordinating a resistance network across France almost single handedly, with little backup or communication – and she did all this working around a disability. Sadly, I don’t feel that this biography does her justice.

Virginia was a brilliant secret agent – and she has inevitably made it difficult for the modern biographer to piece together her personal story in full. However, even by the end of the book, I had very, very little sense of her character. Purnell takes some remarkably imaginative leaps in moments that are latent in authorial panic. The majority of Virginia’s achievements are hazily attributed to her easy manner and ‘sixth sense’, or simply her ‘ability to make people trust her’. There are of course limitations in any work that must adhere closely to history, but in Purnell’s admirable effort to bring Hall’s story to light (especially amid the androcentricity of war and espionage) she fails to bring a human dimension to her subject. Virginia herself – perhaps fittingly, but also frustratingly – remains an enigma. This is somewhat counterintuitive to me.

Purnell’s writing style compromised much of the gravity and power of Virginia’s story. Much of her prose relies on hackneyed modes of expression that are greatly at odds with the events she describes. Lines like ‘left to rot in prison’ or ‘nights of nail-biting tension’ perpetuate the popularised trashy-thriller narrative that Purnell evidently aims to subvert. Overall, it’s just not engaging. The context of the Occupation, the agenda of SOE and the mechanics of radio operation are delivered in rather dry passages that do not strike a balance between not assuming knowledge and giving readers credit. Purnell’s exposition will be beneficial to those who are new to this period in history, but to those who have pursued it before, it is unlikely to provide further interest.

Disappointing. There were genuinely moments I considered putting the book down, but I thought I owed it to Virginia keep slogging on to hear her story in full. I have read better profiles, even, compared to this biography. I recommend Kathryn J. Atwood’s entry in Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Virginia Hall (April 6, 1906 – July 8, 1982) was an American spy, working first with the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and then later with the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, primarily in France. After the war she was honored with awards in the US, France and Britain receiving the American Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), the French Croix de Guerre and made an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The DSC was the only one awarded to a civilian woman in World War Two. After the war Virginia worked at the Special Activities Division of the newly established CIA. The book covers in great detail her involvement in war efforts in France.

The book starts with Virginia’s youth, telling of how she came to study in Paris and in so doing fell in love with France. Hunting in Turkey she accidentally shot her own leg and in so doing was thus forced to wear a prosthesis. This never stopped her from fulfilling her goals.

After the German invasion of France in 1940, she became determined to return France to the French. That she was a woman, that she had only one fully functional leg didn’t matter. On one occasion, escaping from France, she crossed the Pyrenees in winter, a difficult feat for a healthy person.

We learn in great detail of all her missions, working first with the SOE and then later the OSS. Working closely with French partisans, she organized guerrilla units and missions. Nuns, prostitutes and a wide array of individuals from different social classes were those she had contact with. She saw that her compatriots were freed from prisons. Safe houses needed to be established. Radio messages had to be transmitted. All aspects of each mission were planned in detail by her. Bridges were to be blown up, rail lines destroyed and telephone lines cut. All communications were to be severed. German convoys were targeted. Delivery of ammunition, supplies and food to the Germans was to be stopped and the Germans’ subsequent retreat made impossible. German intelligence was sabotaged. Escape of prisoners had to be meticulously organized. All involved were risking their lives. There is suspense in the telling and gruesome details are related. Each mission is detailed with exactitude.

The missions give the reader a very clear picture of Virginia’s personality. Determined, intelligent, independent, self-controlled, courageous, illusive, frank, outspoken, caring, but not cuddly.

Posthumously it has been acknowledged that Virginia was discriminated against. That de Gaulle sought to downplay the importance of Allied Forces and of women in general has played in too. That Virginia’s achievements and valor have now been brought to public attention is just and proper.

I usually avoid books of espionage. I worry that I will not understand. For the most part, I did understand. There are numerous people involved but the reader is brought back time and time again to central figures. In this way events are tied together as a whole.

While the book’s prime focus is Virginia’s actions during the war, her life after the war is summarized too. The book follows her life through to her death.

Juliet Stevenson narrates the audiobook. She uses different accents, juggling a fake French accent, a British and an American accent. This made listening a disjointed experience and not to my taste. I have generously given the narration performance three stars. Higher than that I cannot go.

*****************************

First Lady 4 stars
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II 4 stars

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing story about a little known female hero of WWII. Virginia Hall, although an American, worked for the British spy organization S.O.E. in Vichy France. Her ability to organize cells and her analytical skills, although unequaled by her male counterparts, were often discounted and overlooked due to jealousies and the prevailing gender bias of the time. Frequently she escaped capture which would have resulted in horrific torture and death. Betrayals by some she trusted, extreme stress and fatigue and near starvation were just consequences of the dangerous work she loved doing.

About two years ago I read Lyn Olson's book Madame Fourcade's Secret War, the story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the French woman who led the spy network Alliance. These two valorous women had much in common. Their adventurous spirits thrived despite extreme peril. I am uncertain why I found Olson's book superior to Purnell's. It was more cohesive; it flowed nicely. Perhaps she had more factual information and didn't need to speculate or fill in the holes. Regardless, both books are enthralling accounts, and I highly recommend both.

[Jonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Woman of No Importance is a stellar account of an unsung hero overcoming every imaginable obstacle. This account inspires and infuriates me. The limits put on women and the narrow views men held of them were abhorrent. Add to this the limits and discrimination against her because she had a prosthesis after her leg was amputated due to a hunting accident.

I would not have picked this book up if it wasn't for my library book club. I am ever so grateful for the selection and discussion. It was a five star read for most. The only criticism was it read a little too much like a text book than narrative nonfiction (like Erik Larson), but most agreed, spies don't leave a lot of personal notebooks and records, therefore it would be expected to read more factual.

Amazing, resourceful, and determined are words that only scratch the surface of what held Virginia heads and shoulders above so many others serving in the French Resistance. There were so many memorable people and events. I loved her "nephews". I loved the subversive way many French citizens tried to derail the Nazis. The Resistance literally blew up railways, but prostitutes purposefully contracted diseases to spread to German soldiers, workers in canneries punctured cans, and butchers would hide one rotten piece of meat in a shipment to spoil it all.

Having watched movies about the Enigma Code, I particularly enjoyed all aspects about codes, radios, and radio operators. I absolutely loved the "jail break" and the air drop in the mountains. Virginia didn't mess around. She was completely focused on liberating France and had no patience for the throngs of incompetent men serving with, above, or below her. She paid for her own six week class for wireless radio training, she climbed mountains, made meticulous plans, and was a master of disguise. The one time she dons a uniform I had tears in my eyes and wanted to cheer.

If Virginia was the hero, Alesch is the villain. He is duplicitous and pure evil. I liken him to Darth Vader. I was appalled again to read how the US recruited many former Nazis and Nazi sympathizers for their battle against communism during the Cold War. I was not surprised, but equally disgusted with the humiliation and discrimination against her following the war in her years at the CIA. Thankfully, our country realized they did not give Virginia her due. I was grateful that a member of book club has recently returned from Washington DC and shared photos of the display in the spy museum which highlights many of Virginia's accomplishments. Next time I travel to DC, I would like to see the exhibit first hand.

I highly recommend A Woman of No Importance to all readers. We have come so far, but still have a ways to go. I look forward to reading other accounts of women serving during WWII and grateful that Marilyn has shared her reading experience with so many books in this vein.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
by Sonia Purnell is the story of one woman's heroism that changed the course of the Second World War! In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." This spy was Virginia Hall, a young American woman--rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg--who talked her way into the spy organization deemed Churchill's "ministry of ungentlemanly warfare," and, before the United States had even entered the war, became the first woman to deploy to occupied France.
Virginia Hall became one of the greatest spies in American history, yet her story remains mostly untold. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Virginia Hall came to be known as the "Madonna of the Resistance," coordinating a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train guerilla fighters. Even as her face covered WANTED posters throughout Europe, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped with her life in a grueling hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown, and her associates all imprisoned or executed. But, adamant that she had "more lives to save," she dove back in as soon as she could, organizing forces to sabotage enemy lines and back up Allied forces landing on Normandy beaches. Told with Purnell's signature insight and novelistic flare, A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.

[Marialyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Courage, Bravery, Resilience, thy name is Virginia Hall.

I am willing to bet you never heard of this woman as I know with all my time spent in school, that I never did. Yet this woman was responsible for establishing an enormous amount of spy networks through out France, making her a person the Nazis were dying to find, capture, and eliminate.

She came from wealth, lost her leg in a hunting accident, and yet nothing held Virginia back. Even after escaping, because the Nazis were hot on her trail, across a mountain pass, where so many others had perished, she went back into France, into danger, into a perilous environment where her life constantly was in danger.

Yes, she was a woman, and because of that was oftentimes looked down upon by men, denied awards because they weren't given to women, and after the war ended, she arrived at the newly established CIA and was relegated to a job sitting at a desk.

Virginia never let anything stand in her way. She was resourceful, brilliant, and a true patriot dedicated to put an end to the evil that pervaded the world, especially that present in France. Her contributions were monumental, truly a major asset to ending the war.

Sonia Purnell did an amazing job of portraying this woman, her research was stellar, and she was able to give to readers a portrait of a woman who history really had little knowledge of. Recommended to those who love learning the little known but highly important facts that led us to the end of the horrendous Nazi regime.

Thank you to Sonia Purcell, Viking, and Edelweiss for a copy of this amazing story.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

A woman of no importance? Then why write a book about her?

Well, because the title is meant to be ironic – and it is. After all, she was the most highly decorated American female during World War II. The U.S Army even awarded her a Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second highest decoration for heroism, not to mention that the book's subtitle is The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II.

And yet, as Sonia Purnell was quoted in an interview about her choice of title, “[t]hrough a lot of her … early life … [Hall] was constantly rejected and belittled. She was constantly just being dismissed as someone not very important or of no importance.”

Her goal was to become a diplomat in the American Foreign Service and though she possessed the background and sterling qualifications that made her eminently qualified for an appointment, the best she could ever get were clerical positions which she filled at a number of U.S. consulates.

When war erupted in Europe Hall handed in her resignation and volunteered as an ambulance driver in France. When France surrendered and signed a treaty with Germany, and over a year before the U.S. entered the war, she went to Britain where she volunteered for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which had been recently created to infiltrate operatives into France who would attempt to organize groups of resistants to harass the Germans and their French collaborators.

Bob Duffy wrote in the Washington Independent:

Expert in evasion, close combat, and disguise, Hall repeatedly eludes her pursuers – Gestapo and Vichy [French] collaborators alike from 1940 through the Nazi retreat from France in early 1945. All along she defies gender-role obstacles deployed by intransigent and often bumbling male opposition, much of it officers who outrank her.

She was so effective in carrying out her duties that in 1942 the Gestapo circulated a message concerning Hall saying that “[s]he is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”

With both the Gestapo and the Vichy police closing in on her she was forced to use one of the escape routes that she had established. There is so much to be said about her courage and intelligence, including a sixth sense that often saved her and her colleagues that it is easy to get carried away in an effort to tell her story and to provide too much information that would be the equivalent of spoiling a good cloak and dagger thriller. However, at the risk of doing just that, I can’t resist including at least a brief description of her escape.

She made her way to southern France in order to cross the Pyrenees into Spain. It was November, not yet winter on the calendar, but winter conditions in the Pyrenees, including the pass, rising to almost eight thousand feet, that she would have to hike to escape her pursuers.

With a guide, she and two male escapees traveled fifty miles in three days and after a journey that some others before them had found impossible to complete, reached the other side of the mountains.

******
Headline of New York Times review of A Woman of No Importance:
“The Coolheaded, One-Legged Spy Who Changed the Course of World War II”
******

Oh yeah, I forgot to include an important fact about Virginia Hall.

Back in 1933, when she was twenty-seven and serving as a clerk in the U.S. consulate in Smyrna, Turkey, she went hunting with some friends. She had started hunting at an early age and was comfortable handling firearms. But on this day, due to carelessness while crossing a fence, she tripped and accidentally shot herself in her left foot.

At first it was thought that her wound would heal but when a life threatening infection set in her leg was amputated just below the knee. For the rest of her life she walked with a wooden prosthesis, and it was on that wooden leg that she walked fifty miles through the high Pyrenees pass into Spain.

She made her way to London, but would later infiltrate France again, this time as an American spy, and remain there until the Germans retreated from the country in 1945.

In my feeble attempt to convey her courage, intelligence, character, and devotion to duty, I have only scratched the surface – and barely at that. But suffice it to say that Sonia Purnell has written a thoroughly researched, exceptional book about “a woman of great importance.” And she did it without romanticizing, idealizing, or embellishing Hall’s accomplishments. She let the facts tell the story – and what a story it is.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Sonia Purnell’s meticulous and extensive research into the life of Virginia Hall, an American woman whose unparalleled resistance work in France during World War II helped pave the way for the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Virginia was no stranger to France because she had lived there as a student and remained in France after her studies were completed. At the outbreak of World War II, the United States had no agency which dealt with clandestine activities. Virginia Hall joined the British SOE agents who were sent into France. She arrived back in France in 1941 where she began her work with the French resistance and remained there until 1945.

At that time in history, discrimination in the secret services was rampant. Despite her outstanding achievements, Virginia was given little recognition for her accomplishments. She had singlehandedly organized and trained resistance groups; supplied them with arms, food, fuel, and cash; trained radio operators and radioed information about troop movements and other essential information herself; planned and arranged the escape of prisoners from prisons; sheltered and helped evacuate downed pilots and resistance fighters who had been compromised; supplied forged identity documents as well as countless other acts of heroism. All this carried out by an attractive woman with an artificial leg.

Klaus Barbie, head of the Gestapo in Lyon, was so enraged by the successes coordinated by Virginia Hall that he had posters distributed throughout the region stating “The Enemy’s Most Dangerous Spy: We Must Find and Destroy Her!”

Even today, Virginia’s efforts inspire work that is carried out by intelligence agencies. Author Sonia Purnell states,“The CIA acknowledges that the Jawbreaker team it sent into Afghanistan before and after 9/11 was a direct descendant of her secret operations with the French Resistance in World War II”. In 2016 the CIA also named a building at the Pentagon after her - the Virginia Hall Expeditionary Center.

This unforgettable book brings to life the work carried out by the British SOE, the French Resistance, and recognizes the extraordinary achievements accomplished by a woman of no importance.

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Virginia Hall is a grade A bad ass and deserves better.

This book read like a bad book report.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

So very torn on this book and rating. It is the story of Virginia Hall, who really had an amazing life as a spy and part of the French Resistance in WW2. An American woman who was undervalued by the US State Department, and who eventually gets a position with the British Intelligence agency and is sent over to France to try and start a Resistance unit. She does an amazing job, recruits some wonderful people (both nuns and prostitutes) to be a part of the unit. Has an innate feel for her job, and did I mention that she had her one leg amputated due to a hunting accident! Wonderful story, but for me the writing and editing was mediocre. Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street, not 64 Baker as stated in the book. Also there are lots of filler that has no supporting research because Virginia did not keep a diary of her life due to the sensitive nature of her work. I also felt the book plodded along, especially when there were such dynamic events happening with Virginia. The life story is worth a 5***** effort, but the writing really brings the rating, for me, to a 3.5***

[Barbara K · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE: It appears that there HAS been a YA book written about Virginia Hall! Two, actually. The Lady Is a Spy: Virginia Hall, World War II Hero of the French Resistance, and Code Name Badass: The True Story Of Virginia Hall, which came out a few months ago. IDK anything about them, but I'm certainly glad they are out there!

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Pretty much every page of this book had me ready to scream, "Why didn't I know about this woman when I was was growing up?", alternating with "She needs to be promoted as a role model for girls today!"

OK, so it makes sense that I didn't know about Virginia Hall back in, say, 1960, since she still had an active career in the CIA, and a children's book about a real-life female war hero would not have exactly have been a candidate for a Newberry award at that time. Come to think of it, there are probably school districts today where her exploits, even toned down, would not be considered appropriate for a young audience.

But wow, was she something else. The really short version of her life is that she was an American woman who resisted the strictures of the domestic life that was planned for her and sought employment in the State Department after having lived, and studied, in Europe. Achieving only glorified clerical positions in State during the 1930s, she was in Europe when the Germans invaded France and she immediately volunteered as an ambulance driver.

And thus her career behind the lines, as a leader of the French Resistance, was born. I won't go into detail about the many ways in which she worked, first under the British and later the Americans, to supply and train La Résistance and to report back to the Allies about German activities. Let's just say that no male character I've come across, in print or on film, real or fictional has shown more skill or bravery than she in functioning under cover and with limited resources. And have I mentioned the artificial leg? (She lost the original while hunting when stationed in Turkey.) Yeah, she didn't let that stop her from negotiating the Pyrenees after escaping Lyon hours before Klaus Barbi entered that city.

Is this all true? Well, although Hall desired to keep a low profile during her life, the book seems to have been thoroughly researched, with plenty of direct testimony from the men and women she worked with during the war. Sadly, the CIA was as committed as the rest of America in the 1950s to keeping women out of the limelight, and her career in that organization after the war never achieved the heights it would have had she been a man, a fact actually acknowledged by the CIA.

Poking around online I find multiple references to a J.J. Abrams film based on this book, to star Daisy Ridley, but it either has never been made or not released as yet. That's too bad - it would be an inspirational story for both women and the disabled.

[Katie.dorny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the biography of one of the first women to become a front line secret agent, who left America during the Great Depression, suffered her leg being partially amputated and ended up helping to found what became known as the French resistance.

What a bloody woman.

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

How are we not all aware of this incredible woman?! This needs to be required reading for everyone.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly consumed this book through the audio version, as I would have put it down as boring if I had focused my efforts on the Kindle version.

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This book is a biography of the American spy known as Virginia Hall, who helped the country of France recover their independence from Adolf Hitler in her role as a British intelligence agent. The book goes into great detail about her movements as a secret service agent from 1940 until 1945.

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I was recommended this book by author Samantha Shannon, who I have a lot of respect for. I was glad to see that the Kindle version and audio version were available for rent through Libby so I jumped at the chance.

I'm not normally into memoirs or biographies so this book is a huge detraction from what I'd normally read. My next read is back to my normal fantasy romance novel (Katee Robert novel if anyone is wondering). However, I did enjoy this book more than I thought I would.

I did get bored about 30% of the way through the novel but I think it's because this is not a book I'd normally go for. I wanted to finish the book, though, because I wanted to say that I completed it. It took me less time than I expected, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. lol

I love a good spy novel, thanks to Luke Jennings, so I have a feeling that this novel will bring back the urge to read more of his books as well. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing, in my personal opinion. Again, that's just me. lol

I loved the mystery surrounding who Virginia really is and am left wondering if Virginia Hall is even her real name. Knowing that she was a secret agent leads me to believe that even this name is an alias. I guess we'll never know, will we?

I would recommend this book very highly if you want to learn more about the movements of the Allied Forces during WWII, especially when it comes to their movements in France. I'd also hype this book if you want to learn more about real-life secret service agents. It was a great read!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile read. Trying to do the best she could for the cause, willing to put her life on the line and must be credited with incredible bravery, and yet, knocked back on countless occasions. Why? Being a woman.
The cause, I'm starting to believe (I will read more) owes an incalculable amount to the 'little women' who stood up.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library Overdrive Audiobook….narrated by Juliet Stevenson
….13 hours and 54 minutes

Virginia Hall, an espionage in enemy territory secretly established operative networks and eventually lead a group of resistance who sabotaged Nazi armies. Those who knew her said she had a hand in paving the way to Hitler’s defeat. Brilliant under-cover work - with a prosthetic leg to boot.
Author Sonia Purnell wrote this biography/historical/political/social science of “The Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II.

I had never heard of Virginia Hall until my friend (thanks Iris), chatted with me about this book she was listening to.
I knew I wasn’t really a spy-genre-reader….but I was game to learn a little more about this ‘based-on-a-true-story’ of a Virginia Hall.
Close escaped when her cover was discovered-

The ‘entire’ audiobook was more than I wanted to invest my complete energy in — I’ve been busy ‘rolling-on-the-floor laughing lately’ instead —distracted hilariously-throwing out years of old papers, office supplies, clothes, and other tchotchkes.
but parts of this story and Virginia Hall was fascinating. ….with thriller-suspense storytelling.
Google was my friendly-go-to- to fill in some specific facts faster.
I cringed to learn that Virginia Hall lost a leg in a terrible hunting accident…..but nothing seemed to hold this woman back.
Given that I have a bionic foot (and know what I went through ‘not’ to have lost my foot—my heart was sensitive to Virginia’s leg loss.

I did a little audio-skimming…..but I definitely came away with the ‘awe’ awareness that Hall was an American heroine.
What a brave, independent, courageous, resilient woman Virginia Hall was.

[Samantha Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an extraordinary woman.

[Deacon Tom F. (Recovering from a big heart attack) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book about a very strong woman!

This is the fantastic story of a great woman, Virginia Hall, who risked her life to organize, energize and run the French Resistance behind enemy lines in WWII. I would like to see it as a movie one day or even a documentary.

Sonia Purnell wove minute and well referenced details into the book, so those who were true historians would be satisfied as well. Also, she has a way of making the book flow nicely in the midst of detail.

Hall fell in love with France before WW2 and that love energized her when she was tracked by the German Gestapo. Our author drew my attention to the heroic female intelligence operatives during the WWII. It was truly frustrating to read how badly these female heroes were treated by the men in charge of intelligence operations.

Readers will never forget Virginia Hall the leading influence on modern spying practices. Additionally, the author reveals the way women are erased from history - even today.

The book is of unmatched heroism and also highlighting the many struggles of a strong women in a man's military world.

I highly recommend.

[Kerrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Virginia Hall before the release of Sonia Purnell’s biography A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II. Virginia Hall would be okay with her anonymity since she never sought fame or recompense. In spite of her heroics and brilliant tactics as a spy for the British SOE, and later for the American OSS, Virginia Hall “was pigeonholed as a disabled woman of no importance.” She was often under-utilized and always under-estimated simply because she was a woman in a man’s war. Yet, she had a fierce drive to exceed in helping the Allies build up the French Resistance and overcome Nazism. In this compelling biography, Sonia Purnell shows the reader why Virginia Hall’s life exemplifies: “How adversity and rejection and suffering can sometimes turn, in the end, into resolve and ultimately triumph, even against the backdrop of a horrifying conflict that casts its long shadow over the way we live today.”

Virginia Hall was a real-life, kick-ass, wonder woman!

In spite of being an amputee, Virginia Hall was responsible for prodigious activities that had a great impact on the Allies’ success in France. She organized, trained, and armed resistance groups in spite of their internal feuding and machoism; she set up safe-houses; planned ambushes, blowing up bridges, and a prison break of twelve British agents from Mauzac prison camp. Even though she was disabled, she was able to walk across a mountain pass to escape the Nazis. Her organizational abilities were beyond compare. Klaus Barbie was intent on finding and destroying her, calling her “the enemy’s most dangerous spy.” She is remembered by the males who worked under her for teaching “tolerance, friendship without calculation and a true notion of service to one’s country.”

After the war, Virginia went to work for the newly formed CIA. However, she was the subject of workplace unfairness because she was a woman with strong opinions. She was often unhappy with her assignments that would relegate her to a boring desk job. Her better ideas were given to male counterparts to carry-out. There are six facets to today’s CIA ethos with Service being the first. Virginia was chosen to represent Service, but the CIA failed to identify her as a “trailblazer” officer who shaped the agency’s history. Her shoddy treatment was later cited within the CIA itself as “a textbook case of discrimination.”

The author has done an excellent job of detailing Virginia’s numerous activities. There was a cast of many characters that made it hard to keep up with at times. Even Virginia’s artificial leg had its own name. Fortunately, there is a list at the beginning of the book that gives the main player’s names and code names.

4.5-Stars. Bookclub recommended. This is the December 2019 – January 2020 non-fiction group selection for the Goodreads Reading For Pleasure Book Club of which I am a member.

For my review that also has a recipe for Chicken Divan to go with it, check out my ad-free blog www.kerrinsbookreviews.com.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever heard of Virginia Hall? How about a one legged civilian woman in the OSS that won the Distinguished Service Cross for fighting the Nazis in France with the Resistance? No? Me neither, until I read this book and it's now getting my rare 5 star rating. In 2019 I read Code Name: Lise about a French woman, Odette Sansom, married to an Englishman who was now in the army. She wanted to do her part to aid her adopted country and her homeland and ended up becoming a member of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) which sent her back to France as a spy. She ended up becoming the most decorated British woman in WWII. I thought Odette's story was incredible and inexcusably unknown but that was before I had read this book about Virginia Hall.

Virginia was an American woman from a relatively well-to-do family. She was studying in Europe when the war started between Germany and England and France. She fled to England and ended up in the same SOE that Odette did but well before Odette's involvement. Virginia being multi-lingual was also sent to France and was remarkably talented and successful in her clandestine operations. She was so successful that she far outshined her male counterparts who seemed more interested in getting drunk and hopping in and out of every bed available beside using the money they were supplied to support resistance operations for their lavish lifestyles. But this was a different era and inspite of a war being on a woman's achievements were poo-pooed and unacknowledged. Her warnings that her male colleagues were lying about the available resources and manpower in France were also disregarded. Virginia became the center of successful SOE activity in Southern France and the most sought after agent by the Nazis. Eventually she was forced to escape France and her escape is an exploit that is not to be believed even earning a comment from Chuck Yeager of Sound Barrier fame. Yeager as a downed pilot in WWII that had to escape France by a route similar to that taken by Hall and was dumbfounded by the ordeal the route presented and to have done it on one leg was astonishing.

Upon her return to England Virginia's accomplishments were again unacknowledged. Her immediate supervisor thought her deserving of very high praise and put her in for a very distinguished medal but that was denied because such a medal was not given to women. Instead Virginia was given an MBE, Member of the British Empire. Oh, and Virginia's pay rate was one step above a clerk/typist for somebody working in enemy controlled France at the risk of her life. You just can't beat the British for arrogance, ignorance, and elitism unless, of course, you happen to be a member of American bureaucracy of the same era. By now Pearl Harbor had occurred and the U.S. was in the war.

The entry of the U.S. into the European war resulted in the creation of the OSS under the leadership of General "Wild Bill" Donovan. Since the OSS had no experienced agents Virginia was a shoo-in to be hired away from the SOE and she was. She was sent back to France but this time with more authority and operational control than under the British but with no more respect than that of the British. Her accomplishments became legendary in France and her apprehension by the Nazis and especially by Klaus Barbi, the Butcher of Lyon, became a paramount goal of his regime in Southern France.

Her work in France also depicts the operations of the Resistance and the Free French under de Gaulle which are not particularly flattering. Her operations were constantly hampered by the sexism of local Resistance leaders more interested in personal glorification than in taking orders from a mere woman foreigner regardless of the fact that she was the one supplying the weapons and money needed for the fighting. Virginia was also the one with the experience, organization skill, and the selfless focus needed to insure mission success. Eventually the war ends but the egoism, elitism, nationalism, and sexism continued. Many of those that fought with Virginia believed she deserved to be awarded the Legion of Honor but de Gaulle was promoting a myth that France freed itself without the need for foreign assistance let alone the assistance of a foreign woman and such an award was never given though the author did discover that a Croix de Guerre was awarded but never publicly acknowledged.

When Virginia returned to the U.S. after years of being in Europe the OSS had been abolished by order of President Truman but the Cold War made such an agency a modern world necessity and the CIA was born. Virginia went to work and eventually retired from the CIA, again without the appreciation or acknowledgement of her experience or abilities. She entered an agency populated by Ivy League good old boys that considered her old school. Of course they were really embarrassed by her achievements, experience and real world spy craft knowledge but she was never given assignments where these skills could be properly utilized. Again, she was just a woman and this was a man's world and she was now being regarded as "opinionated" and "difficult". At the age of 60, mandatory CIA retirement age, she retired without fanfare. She lived quietly and silently for the remainder of her life. After her death Virginia's contributions and her mistreatment were recognized by the CIA and resulted in her being memorialized on a CIA Hall of Fame and in the naming of a building after her.

The author understandably makes much of the ill-treatment Virginia received. However, Virginia practiced a personal code of silence consistent with her role as a spy and never left any record of her exploits or her thoughts. While I agree that she was treated shabbily by the British, the French, and the Americans I wonder if she would agree with the author's level of criticism. Virginia intentionally declined honors and recognition because that wasn't what she fought for and it was a source of difficulty she experienced with those for whom such things were important. She was a woman of her times and ill-treatment by men may not have been as offensive as we would regard it today. I think what you will find in this book is the story of an incredibly idealistic woman with tenacious abilities and unswerving loyalty unconcerned about her personal welfare. She had a job to do for a country she loved and that was all that was important to her. This is a story of a woman well worth reading about. Enjoy.

[thefourthvine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Virginia Hall was an amazing person and is a fascinating subject for a biography. She was an incredible agent who worked for the SOE and the OSS during WWII, a key figure in espionage and resistance in occupied France. She deserved better than this book.

A big part of my problem with this book was the writing style; the prose is dull and plodding, and I suspect it would be confusing in places for readers not already familiar with the SOE and its wartime operations. Purnell fails to define key terms or explain the background of major elements in the book.

Purnell also handles names astonishingly badly; she refers to most men mentioned by their last names. She calls women either by their first names (Virginia Hall, Germaine Guerin), their full names (Vera Atkins, though honestly I’d be wary of calling her anything else, too), or their titles (many of the Frenchwomen Hall encountered or worked with during the war are called Madame [Lastname]). And she calls most, but not all, SOE agents by their code names, a truly inexplicable choice. (Ben Cowburn remains Ben Cowburn, maybe because of the way he operated, but Brian Stonehouse is referred to as Celestin, Peter Harratt is called Aramis, etc.) I’m not sure how Purnell expects anyone to remember who is who, especially with the vague descriptions and references she provides for most of the people mentioned. I came into this already knowing the names and aliases of most of the major SOE operatives, and I still had to look things up from time to time.

I’m also concerned about accuracy. I am by no means an expert in the SOE, WWII, espionage, or anything else, and I caught several minor factual errors — wrong names, mostly. I have to assume there are other errors that I didn’t catch.

But mostly I’m just sad that this book didn’t make Virginia Hall live, or give any real sense of what her life was like. The most riveting and well-written chapter is the Mauzac prison break, which Hall orchestrated but wasn’t involved in. In other chapters, there’s almost no information on day to day activities, or rich description of Hall’s actions. I realize that’s in part because of the limited information available about Hall; she didn’t write a book about her experiences, or even talk about them, and was notably unwilling to have them commemorated or celebrated. But it’s still sad.

Virginia Hall’s story would make an amazing book, but this book is not the one. (I do hope it inspires someone to make a movie about her, though.)

[Stephanie Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purnell has penned another spectacular history of another outstanding woman. I was enamored with the first history of Clementine Churchill. I loved that one!! And this tale of the exploits of Virginia Hall just blew me out of the water!!! This woman was unstoppable, unflappable and fearless in her desire to serve in WWII. She was the primary developer of the French Resistance and worked for the British Secret Service as well the American OSS. She struggled for 6 years in France working to defeat the Germans and to say she was marvelous is an understatement. She displayed such leadership that French citizens were easily enlisted to help her and willing to suffer to save their country. Purnell has done exquisite research to bring to life the work of Virginia in great detail! I can’t say enough about this book! It will be my history pick for the year! Loved it

[JaNel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly embarrassed, but didn’t finish. I really wanted to know this story but the writing is so dry and moves so slow. Don’t judge me; I put forth a good effort. And I love to read and love books! (But make a movie in this case...?)

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nonfiction covers Virginia Hall, an American woman who almost single handedly oversaw the English SOE, Special Operations Executive in France.
She was the antithesis of the expected spy - female, basically untrained, with a wooden leg. As far from 007 as you could get. What she had in spades was moxie and determination. Even after her cover was blown, she refused orders to evacuate.
While at times redundant, the book realistically portrays the risks that these WWII spies faced. So often, it was a careless mistake or bravado that led to arrests. And one arrest often became a sequence of falling dominoes. As the story goes on, it’s truly a cat and mouse game. After being forced to leave France via Spain, she returns as a spy for the OSS. After D-Day, she finally gets to command her own group of partisans in the Haute-Loire. I was interested to learn how much the resistance fighters at this stage were able to accomplish. The book also provides some interesting insights into the last months of the war. And doesn’t paint DeGaulle in a favorable light.
Virginia was an amazing person. Hard nosed, not afraid to make the difficult decisions and extremely efficient. In a time when most women were relegated to office positions and no army allowed women at the front lines, she was a single handed force of nature.
I recommend this for fans of The Lost Girls of Paris (fiction) and Madame Fourcade’s Secret War (nonfiction).