The Unsung Heroine: The Incredible True Story of the American Spy Who Played a Pivotal Role in Winning World War II

Desislava Deller: I am i awe of the devotion, shere bravery and self-sacrifice of this woman and appalled by the complete disregard of the authorities for her acheivements during her life time.
A true unsung heroine of her time.
My deepest gratitude to the author for choosing to inform us, the readers, of such an incredible human being.

United Kingdom on Sep 08, 2023

meryll: Interested in how women stand up and impart their knowledge to us all. Men seems to have it easier to get their stories over, but women are all powerful

United Kingdom on Aug 28, 2023

Hazel: It's a book: it arrived when it said it would.

United Kingdom on Aug 23, 2023

William Connors: Extremely well written and researched book. What Virginia Hall accomplished in fighting Nazi Germany is amazing, which makes it all the more surprising that she is little known. I just wonder how she rationalized working for the CIA after the war when it was suppressing when not killing many (mostly communists) who also fought against the Nazis. It is especially strange that she did not resign when the CIA helped the Nazi butcher Klaus Barbie escape to Bolivia, a man who was responsible for the killing and torture of many people that Ms. Hall worked with (and he also tried very had to get her). But then Ms. Hall was very discreet and did not reveal much about herself, and the author was also unable to view all documents, since some are still classified as secret.

Germany on Mar 23, 2023

Berengaria: Cuando pedí el libro no conocía al personaje. Quedé sorprendida de lo valiente y dedicada que fue está mujer que vivió en las sombras. Muy bien escrito y ameno. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Mexico on Jan 27, 2023

P. Blevins: A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII was written by Sonia Purnell. This book was impossible to put down once you were into it.
This is the story of how one woman stood up to be counted and made a difference to the history of the world. Virginia wanted to protect rather than destroy; to restore liberty rather than destroy it. She neither pursued fame or glory, nor was she really granted it She defied stereotyping and served in the American and British Secret Service.
Barbara Hall had raised her only daughter (youngest child) to make an advantageous marriage. She wanted Virginia to live as the highest social circle did; but didn’t have the money. Ned was inept at business and failed to keep the family fortune; but not even to raise it. Virginia’s duty was to haul the family fortune back to where it was supposed to be by marrying money.
Virginia was outgoing, a pleasure to be around, young men flocked to her, and she defied convention. She rode, shot, hunted, etc. like the boys and yet knew how to act as a young lady. They saw her as a natural leader. Her classmates voted her president of her class, editor in chief,...

United States on Jul 11, 2021

D. Eppenstein: 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 <u>Code Name: Lise</u> 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...

United States on Feb 15, 2021