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Nancy Wake is one of the true heroines of the Second World War. Born in New Zealand, she was living in Marseille and was married to Frenchman Hanri Fiocca when the Germans invaded. Nancy immediately became active in the Resistance movement, smuggling messages and food to underground groups in Southern France and helping refugees flee to Spain. By 1943 she was on the Gestapo 'most wanted' list. Their nickname for her, due to her elusiveness, was the 'White Mouse'. It was time for Nancy to leave France. After six escape attempts Nancy reached Britain - where she promptly became one of the thirty-nine women to join the British Special Operations Executive. Parachuted back into France, she became the virtual leader of a 7,000-strong branch of the Marquis. This book tells the extraordinary wartime story of this exceptional woman.… (more)
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This was a turning point for Nancy, because after this she was always on the run and always completely committed to the Resistance. It took her six attempts, but she finally made it out of France. Nancy became one of only thirty-nine women to join the SOE and, after some training, parachuted back into France. At one point, she was the British liaison for over 7000 Marquis. She proved to be daring, brave, and incredibly lucky.
I first heard about Nancy Wake in the context of a different biography, a new one by Peter FitzSimons. However, when I looked at reviews of the two books, the older, Braddon biography received better reviews. Certainly Braddon had a leg up on FitzSimons, in that he interviewed Nancy Wake himself. He was also completely enamored with her, which may have colored his treatment of her story. Despite the potential bias, Nancy Wake was an amazing person and her story is colorful and full.