A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
By: Sonia Purnell / Narrated By: Juliet Stevenson
Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
From the print reviews? I do believe Juliet Stevenson makes this is a grand and daring tale
After listening to A Woman of No Importance and liking it quite a bit, I popped over to Amazon to read what other people thought about it. Turns out, it’s a Loved It or Hated It kinda deal. The people who were disappointed, who begged to differ most vociferously with the rave reviews, cited poor and unengaging writing.
Huh? Oh my goodness, really?
Cuz I was pretty riveted with this tale of Virginia Hall (She wasn’t a socialite, really, but she DID have a mother who groomed her to be a good and dutiful wife, destined to marry oh so high), an American woman who was the first female agent the UK’s SOE had take up residence in France during WWII. That she’d lost a leg earlier in an accident and was dashing about with a prosthetic limb?
Not a problem!
That the Vichy France operatives were as (Or more!) evil than the Nazis?
Not a problem!
Author Sonia Purnell obviously put in a LOT of research time, and I felt she fleshed Virginia out very well, crafted her escapades and her sooooo many near-misses in a very edge-of-your-seat manner. But maybe not, according to reviewers who thought the writing came off as notes tacked together and strung along to make one whole piece. But noooo, I thought it was great—I felt breathless cuz a LOT of the agents she worked with didn’t make it, were arrested, were tortured, were executed (And Purnell minces no words in her graphic depictions as to their ends).
So maaaaaybe it was all the AWEsome Juliet Stevenson’s narration (Even tho’ I did indeed jack listening speed up to x1.5—dunno, just rolled better that way….). Yesssss, even though the venerable narrator is NOT American, she didn’t butcher an American accent when it came to the quotes from Virginia speaking. Nope, Virginia just wound up sounding No-Nonsense, and take-no-prisoners. And it was obvious that she had no qualms about doing the hard thing if it was the right thing: She’d off someone who was a problem with no guilt.
Expect lots of close calls, and plenty in the way of men not being able to stomach a woman in charge, especially a woman who didn’t for a moment doubt her skills or worth or place within Operations. Didn’t matter if it was the French Resistance factions: Some of them couldn’t handle it; didn’t matter if it was American operations: They kept passing her over.
It ends on a rather grim note; Hall’s body was a wreck as she aged—No getting past what all that Benzedrine popping to stay alert and functioning does to a person. And the man she joined her life with, also an agent, suffered a stroke and along with that came a personality change. Plus, she was just used to being in the thick of desperate situations, of having all the answers, of always coming through—Life post-war was hard.
Still, my writing group issued a challenge for all of us to choose a woman who hasn’t gotten enough credit from history and to study whomever, and Virginia Hall was one of the ones who made the cut of 5 Women of Note. I didn’t choose her for my writing challenge, but I’m so very glad y’all chose her for My Next Listen.
I would’ve haaaated to miss out on this story of war and history and sacrifice and courage. They were, indeed, a Generation to honor! And apparently: Juliet Stevenson makes this audiobook a real winner…!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.