“Valor rarely reaps the dividends it should.”
Virginia Hall is a woman more people should know about. She was an American who not only helped Britain, but also America, as a spy during WWII. She helped the French Resistance while working for Britain and then helped find information in Germany while working for the U.S. Then, she went on to become one of the first women officers in the CIA. Her contribution to the war effort and America’s intelligence community is profound. She did all this with a prosthetic leg, too.
After reading The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff, I saw the author referenced A Woman of No Importance and added it to my to-read list. I waited several weeks before it became available as an ebook from my local library. This is the non-fiction story of one of the women the British SOE hired to help the French Resistance.
A Woman of No Importance starts with Virginia as a young adult wanting to do more with her life than marry well. She enjoys the outdoors and pursues trying to work at the U.S. State Department as an agent. She is turned down for being a woman and then for having a leg prosthesis. She had a hunting accident that resulted in the amputation. However, while in Europe, she is recruited by the British to help them in the war effort and not only does she join, she proves to be one of the most successful agents they have. Without her help, the Allies wouldn’t have had as much information as they needed for their effort.
While A Woman of No Importance is dry in some parts, the story of Virginia is fascinating. I hope there is a young readers edition of her story written at some point. I shared some of her story with my daughters but the book describes some of the Nazi torture tactics, so the book is for mature readers.
Do you enjoy biographies? What is the most fascinating one you’ve read? Share in the comments!