Virginia Hall. Do you know this name? I know I didn't, not until my mother in law gave me this book as a Christmas gift. When I began this story of WWII spycraft, of an exceptional resistance fighter in France and even of the plight of women in the war and its aftermath, I had no idea of the role Virginia played. But I do now.
A Woman of No Importance is Virginia's history, her journey from the daughter of a Baltimore socialite to a real player in the fight to take France back from the Nazis. It's an incredible tale of espionage and betrayal, about the loneliness and struggle of war under an occupying force and about the ridiculous determination and capability of the woman named Virginia Hall. The story of France during the war is such a heartbreaking one, the writing really does a fine job of illustrating the hardship, the strain of life as a member of the resistance.
It wasn't necessarily a page turner for me, but it definitely kept my attention and felt so solidly researched. The last 20% or so of the book is about Virgina's post-war life and it was hard to read about the kind of discrimination Virginia had to face. I didn't enjoy that part as much as the rest of it but this book still gets four stars for teaching me so much in such a readable way.
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