Amazon.com Review\nAn Amazon Best Book of April 2019: In this fast-paced biography Sonia Purnell tells the story of Virginia Hall, an American spy who worked undercover in France during World War II for Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE). Hall’s story is a surprising one: she began her life in the United States with a mother who wished for the perfect debutante. Hall, however, was more comfortable studying languages, and found herself living abroad and working for the State Department when she lost half her leg in a hunting accident. This setback didn’t slow down Hall at all: she named her wooden prosthetic Cuthbert, drove ambulances in France, and was recruited by a recently formed SOE as a spy in occupied France. Hall posed as a newspaper reporter, enlisting civilians for the French Resistance and establishing an underground network of allies and becoming one of the most important spies during World War II. Purnell does an amazing job bringing Hall’s exploits to life and has crafted a gripping and cinematic biography for an unsung hero of wartime espionage. --Alison Walker 
Editors' pick: Purnell does an amazing job bringing Hall’s exploits to life, crafting a gripping and cinematic biography of an unsung hero of wartime espionage."—Alison Walker, Amazon Editor

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy, Virginia Hall

Biographies & Memoirs

Sonia Purnell

Community & Culture

Virago

'Purnell's account of Hall's hectic, amphetamine-fuelled exploits never falters. It recalls Caroline Moorehead's wonderful book, Village of Secrets but has an added touch of Ben Macintyre's brio ... A rousing tale of derring-do' The Times Book of the Week'Riveting ... one of the most breath-taking stories yet told of female courage behind enemy lines' Sarah Helm, author of A Life in SecretsIn 1942, the Gestapo would stop at nothing to track down a mysterious 'limping lady' who was fighting for the freedom of France. The Nazi chiefs issued a simple but urgent command: 'She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.'The Gestapo's target was Virginia Hall, a glamorous American with a wooden leg who broke through the barriers against her gender and disability to be the first woman to infiltrate Vichy France for the SOE. In so doing she helped turn the course of the intelligence war.This is the epic tale of an heiress who determined that a hunting accident would not define her existence; a young woman who gambled her life to fight for the freedoms she believed in; an espionage novice who helped to light the flame of French Resistance.Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall, an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance and personal triumph over shocking adversity.'A gripping, relevant and timely read about a remarkable woman from a talented writer' Deborah Frances-White, author of The Guilty Feminist 'A fitting and moving tribute to an amazing woman' The Economist

Woman Of No Importance

VIKING

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

Penguin??Books

Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill

Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing

First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill

By Winston Churchills own admission, his role in the Second World War would have been impossible but for Clemmie. This biography tells Clementines often ignored story, from her birth into an aristocratic yet loveless family to her meeting with Winston in 1908; then traces the couples personal and political upheavals during the First World War, through their wilderness years in the 1930s, to Clementines crucial support of her husband in the struggle against Hitler and the difficult years after the war.

Aurum Press Ltd

This is a biography of one of the most compelling and contradictory figures in modern British life. Born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, to most of us he is just 'Boris' - the only politician of the age to be regarded in such familiar, even affectionate terms.

Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition - A Biography of Boris Johnson

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Aurum Press

First Lady The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill & A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy By Sonia Purnell 2 Books Collection Set

Historical

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sonia Purnell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sonia Purnell