Code Name Hélène : Inspired by the gripping true story of World War 2 spy Nancy Wake

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Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. A lot of the past, 1936, is about how Nancy met her husband, Henri. The development of their relationship takes the limelight for the first half of the book. Henri slowly woes Nancy, they marry in 1939 and the Germans invade France. Henri is called up, Nancy drives her own ambulance at the front and she helps the resistance by smuggling documents and people. The Germans give Nancy the title of, 'The White Mouse', with a bounty on her head, Henri makes her leave France and she crosses the snowy Pyrenees Mountains and travels to England.

Code Name Helene (Lawhon) Summary Guide - LitLovers Code Name Helene (Lawhon) Summary Guide - LitLovers

First and foremost was the sexual descriptions and the fact that the author felt that including these made Nancy perhaps more palpable. Could this woman not stand on her own without the references to her beauty, her sexual prowess, and her ability to attract any man? I felt it cheapened the story for once again a woman became "something" because of her looks. This fully animated portrait of Nancy Wake . . . will fascinate readers of World War II history and thrill fans of fierce, brash, independent women, alike.” Code Name Helene was a riveting historical fiction account of the life of Nancy Grace Augusta Wake by Ariel Lawhon. Originally from Australia, Wake worked as a freelance journalist for three years for the Hearst Corporation in London and Paris. Later joining the French Resistance during World War II in France, she had many identities including the notorious "White Mouse" as she was known to the Nazis. While Ariel Lawhon states that she wanted to concentrate on what made Nancy Wake one of the most decorated women of the war, not only the fact that she was a spy but a respected military leader during her time with the Maquis. A compulsively readable account of a little-known yet extraordinary historical figure—Lawhon’s best book to date. This is the next book I won’t be able to stop talking about… so, so good!‘ 5 stars (Goodreads reviewer)And I thought you were about to say you’d taken a lover. By comparison, espionage seems saintly.” (c) When I read the author’s notes I found that my feelings about the amount of time spent on their relationship wasn’t far from what the author intended. She states “This is a novel about marriage. Yes, of course, it’s also about war and friendship and bravery and tragedy and one of the most important conflicts of the 20th century . . . But to me, at its heart, this is a novel about a woman and her husband and the sacrifices made by both in the midst of extraordinary circumstances”. I felt that the author’s notes were a better description of the book than the blurb that accompanied the book's title. It made the reader once again realize that women, along with men, fought for freedom, for justice for all, and for the ability to throw off oppression and totalitarianism

Code Name Hélène - Pursuit Magazine Book Review: Code Name Hélène - Pursuit Magazine

Every little thing seems to be dictated in the narrative, making it much much longer than it needs to be. As an example, a detailed description of hair color and hair texture is specified for nearly everyone that Nancy Wake meets or sees whether a significant character or just a character passing by.

I have read many stories of the famous Australian, Nancy Wake; I even have her biography autographed by Nancy herself. I found Code Name Helene to be refreshing and heartwarmingly real. Nancy Wake went through several years of pure hell during WWII but it was when she met her husband-to-be, Henri Fiocca in 1936 that she found, for the first time in her life, true love. Nancy and Henri hadn’t been married long when war was declared and Henri was called up to fight, leaving Nancy home alone. It didn’t take her long to start working for the French Resistance and she eventually became the White Mouse, named because the Germans were unable to find and capture her.

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon | Goodreads Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon | Goodreads

The organization trained her extensively, and Wake’s accomplishments in the pursuit of Nazi defeat were astonishing: She once biked 500 kilometers over the course of 24 hours to deliver a message; she killed a Nazi soldier with her bare hands; she presided over the firing-squad execution of Resistance fighters who kidnapped and raped women. And as Lawhon notes, there were many female spies during World War II, but Wake represented one of a very small number of female military leaders. Told in interweaving timelines organized around the four code names Nancy used during the war, Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.Code Name Hélène is a story about wartime heroine Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, she was born in New Zealand in 1912 and moved to Sydney, Australia when she was a toddler. Nancy left Australia at sixteen, America was her first stop, and then she traveled to France to work as a freelance journalist. Here, Nancy meets Henri Fiocca, he owns a ship building company in Marseilles and has a reputation for being a rich playboy. This is a two part story the other part concerns the love of her life ‘Henri Fiocca’ a Frenchman she fell in love with and married.

Code Name Hélène : Inspired by the gripping true story of

I’m fairly certain there is pond scum in my bra. Possibly my underwear as well. The thought of what I’ll find when I get to the shower makes me a little uneasy. (c) Code Name Helene is an enchanting story of a beautiful marriage, friendships, war, bravery, tragedy and the sacrifices made by both Helene and Henri. But, Lawhon writes, “some of the dialogue and many of the descriptions of people and events” are taken directly from Wake’s autobiography, The White Mouse. And the most notable and important aspects of Wake’s life are mostly unembellished in Code Name Hélène, which is as much an epic love story as an engrossing narrative of an unlikely anti-Nazi combatant. In the 1930s, Wake was an Australian expat living in Paris and had brilliantly bluffed her way into a journalism gig stringing for the European branch of the Hearst Newspaper Group. Well before the start of the war, Wake documented the depravity and revolting cruelty of Adolf Hitler’s private militia known as the Brownshirts. On assignment in 1934 in Vienna’s Old Square, she and her photographer witnessed the paramilitary group publicly and viciously torturing an old Jewish shopkeeper, something the Brownshirts apparently liked to do on Fridays before the beginning of Shabbat.

Code Name Hélène

She helped whom ever she could to escape from the clutches of the Gestapo, she organised weapon drops for the resistance fighters, she ran and commanded freedom fighter and every man in her company new who the boss was. When she said jump the response was always “how high” This was such an engaging book from beginning to end. It is difficult to say much more without getting into spoiler territory and this book is developed so beautifully with divergent timelines that I don't want to give anything away. It is best discovered as it is read. A few of my favorite passages: