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

BESTSELLER IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

NPR, Amazon, the Seattle Times, the Washington Independent Review of Books, PopSugar, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, BookBrowse, the Spectator, and the Times of London have all named it a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR.

The Plutarch Award for Best Biography was given to the author of this biography.

“Excellent…

This novel is as engrossing and difficult to put down as any thriller.” The Book Review of The New York Times

"A gripping portrait of a brilliant spy, as well as a reminder of what a few brave individuals — and a little opposition — can accomplish." - Public Radio International

"A meticulously researched history that reads like a suspense novel." - Macintyre, Ben

The author of Clementine tells the never-before-told story of Virginia Hall, the American spy who changed the direction of World War II.

The Gestapo sent out an urgent communication in 1942: "Of all the Allied agents, she is the most dangerous. We must track her down and eliminate her."

Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who charmed her way into Special Operations Executive, Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare," was the target in their sights. Despite her prosthetic limb, she became the first Allied woman sent behind enemy lines, helping to ignite the flame of the French Resistance and redefining secret warfare as we know it.

Virginia built huge espionage networks over France, dispatched guns and bombs from the air, and became a key ally of the Resistance. Virginia refused to escape despite the fact that her face was plastered on wanted posters and a bounty was set on her head. Her cover had been exposed when she eventually fled by a death-defying journey through the Pyrenees into Spain. But she returned, certain that she had more lives to save, and led a successful guerilla operation following D-Day, freeing large swaths of France from the Nazis.

Sonia Purnell has unearthed the complete hidden life of Virginia Hall for the first time, based on fresh and comprehensive research—an astonishing and inspirational narrative of valor, spycraft, resistance, and personal victory against horrific tragedy. A Woman of No Importance tells the incredible story of how one woman's unwavering determination helped the war effort succeed.