A Woman of No Importance

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is one of those where truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A story about an American woman with a prostetic leg single handedly leading a spy network among other death defying acts over the course of the 30s and 40s doesn't seem entirely plausible. However, it is the reality of the amazing Virginia Hall. So much is still unknown about her movements through the years. Still Purnell has constructed a compelling timeline of what historians have uncovered.

Reading this makes me think that the rise in stories about female spies and operatives during WWI and WWII may have a lot to do with information about Hall. Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network and the Huntress, has to have known about Hall's story. Too many storylines coincide with real events.

Full disclosure that the historical detail is dense, but Hall is so interesting that you can't help but read on.

Happy reading--