Published 9th April 2019
Viking
The never-before-told story of one woman's heroism that changed the course of the Second World War.
In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her."
The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and--despite her prosthetic leg--helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.
Virginia established vast spy networks throughout France, called weapons and explosives down from the skies, and became a linchpin for the Resistance. Even as her face covered wanted posters and a bounty was placed on her head, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped through a death-defying hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown. But she plunged back in, adamant that she had more lives to save, and led a victorious guerilla campaign, liberating swathes of France from the Nazis after D-Day.
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 Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.
New York Times bestseller
“There is much high drama… James Bond had nothing on Hall… Sonia Purnell resurrects the story of a remarkable woman whose persistence was honed early on by her battles against low gender expectations and later on by her disability…”
USA Today – a Book Not to Miss and a USA Today Bestseller
“Gripping…[Hall’s] achievements beggar belief…Purnell smooths a staggering cast and timeline into a brisk narrative…A compelling biography of a masterful spy, and a reminder of what can be done with a few brave people – and a little resistance”
National Public Radio
“A riveting account of Hall’s work as a ferociously courageous American spy whose mother never quite forgave her for failing to marry a rich man…Purnell writes with compelling energy and fine detail”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Exceptionally written and researched”
Washington Times
“As tales of wartime derring-do do, it would be hard to beat that of Virginia Hall…With her thriller writer’s style and copious new research, Purnell has written a fitting and moving tribute to an amazing woman”
The Economist
“Sonia Purnell’s excellent A Woman of No Importance, a biography of the remarkable Virginia Hall, the only second world war agent to serve not only with Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) and its later American counterpart, the OSS, but eventually also with the CIA.”
Clare Mulley in the Spectator Read on
“Purnell’s account of Hall’s hectic, amphetamine-fuelled exploits never falters. It recalls Caroline Moorehead’s wonderful book, Village of Secrets, about defiance of the Nazis in Vichy France, but has an added touch of Ben Macintyre’s brio… It is a pleasure to read a biography in which the author admires her subject so warmly. This might so easily have been a pernickety, fact-finding book, but instead it is a rousing tale of derring-do. Men, women and tomboys will all enjoy the courage and initiative of Virginia Hall.”
Richard Davenport-Hines, The Times Read on
“Anyone writing a thriller about the Second World War would be pushed to invent a fiction more compelling than the real-life adventures of Virginia Hall. Sonia Purnell has found a terrific subject…and writes with authority and in vivid detail. This book is a cracking story.”
Jane Ridley, The Oldie
“It is easy to see why Hollywood is showing interest in Purnell’s account of Hall, an authentic heroine who was also American, disabled and a woman. “Marie” thoroughly deserved her laurels.”
Max Hastings, Sunday Times
“A remarkable chronicle…this lively examination… shows how, if Hall had been a man, dropping undercover in and out of occupied Vichy, Paris, and Lyon, setting up safe houses, and coordinating couriers for the Resistance, she would now be as famous as James Bond…Meticulous research results in a significant biography of a trailblazer who now has a CIA building named after her.”
Kirkus
“Purnell’s writing is as precise and engaging as her research, and this book restores overdue attention to one of the world’s great war heroes. It’s a joy to read, and it will swell readers' hearts with pride.”
Booklist
A Woman of No Importance is one of HuffPost's most eagerly awaited books of 2019.
An article by Sonia Purnell in Tortoise. Read here
An article by Sonia Purnell in Medium. Read here
LBC interview with Sonia Purnell. Listen here.
