In the years before World War II, American Virginia Hall rejected the traditional housewife role her parents wanted for her and decided that she wanted to work abroad for U.S. intelligence community. She applied for, and was subsequently rejected for, every job that wasn't secretarial, eventually taking one of those secretary positions just so she could make it to Europe. Despite the boring work that was given to her, Hall never gave up on her ambitions, and ended up becoming a spy for England's Special Operations Executive in France. During her years in France (which took her through the end of WWII) the misogyny surrounding her was astounding, even as she built networks of informants, evaded the Gestapo, broke several of her colleagues out of prison, planned sabotage missions of German forces, and provided intelligence that helped Allied forces liberate France. Oh, and she did all that with a prosthetic foot that most of her colleagues didn't know about.
If she was alive today, Hall would probably be a bit miffed that Purnell had written this book about her — she wasn't one for glory or accolades, going so far as to never discuss her role in the war with relatives or even colleagues. But thank goodness this book was written! It's wonderful that this amazing woman's story has come to light. She's inspiring, her story is jaw-dropping, and her impact on the intelligence community continues on to this day. This is a fantastic story told in a fantastic book.
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