Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this interesting book.

I am always so in awe of stories about real people who defy what society expects of them, pushing boundaries with their determination and grit. Nancy Wake is one of those people.

The story time-jumps between 1936 - 1944 and pulls you into Nancy's world. It does a great job of showing us the bond between Nancy and Henri (her eventual husband) along with the horrors of WWII. Some of the Nazi scenes are hard to digest, knowing they were written based on real-life scenarios.

Nancy is an amazing woman, and I'm so glad I read this story as I'd not heard of her before. The book makes me want to visit Marseille France, it sounds so beautiful! The characters were very interesting and well fleshed out, the story haunting because I knew it was real. The author did a fantastic job and I can't imagine all the research that went into writing this book.

The only thing I struggled with was the length of this book. It's a long one, but take my comment with a grain of salt. I read this during the first few weeks of COVID-19, and I struggled to concentrate on anything, much less a long novel!

( )

Going from a little-known, extraordinary historical figure, Nancy Wake has finally been brought forth into the limelight by this fascinating novel as well as being brought to life on the big screens in the movie Liberation which is out soon. (COVID-19 dependent now!) So in the absence of cinema outings, or in fact any outgoings anywhere, now is the perfect time to pick up a good book and get reading. And this book is the perfect one for that!

In this historical fiction novel the story is derived from true life events and the real life of Nancy Wake, who during WWII went above and beyond for her country, showing incredible courage, resilience, spirit and determination in the face of the enemy and her adversaries, all whilst wearing her signature red lipstick!

Hélène was just one of four code names used by Nancy Wake along with Lucienne Carlier, Madam Andre and the White Mouse. She was loved by the people around her and the countless people she helped, yet she was feared and hunted by the German army who even but a huge bounty for her capture.

She managed some truly amazing feats against the Nazi's such as training with Special Operations, playing a major role in the French resistance forces, smuggling people out of occupied France as well as delivering orders, weapons, and supplies to the men working with the French resistance, and this book takes us with her on some of her deadly missions.

Alongside her heroic missions this book shines brightly with her love for husband Henry Fiocca, their marriage and this story alternates between Nancy the spy and Nancy the wife. Her successes as well as the high prices she had to for pay and endure for it.

The level of research that has gone into this book truly brings Nancy alive across the pages as well as bringing history to life.

Even if historical or war stories are not for you I would still highly recommend giving this book a chance. It may be set in WWII and include espionage, but this book is so so much more than a war story.

This is a story of an amazing heroine who deserves to be recognised and remembered and the quality of Ariel Lawhon's writing has done Nancy proud!

Code Name Hélène was published on 31 Mar. 2020 and I strongly advise you to grab a copy now. A heart wrenching, heart warming, inspirational story for any book lover, regardless of your usual genres. This is a must read for anyone and everyone that enjoys a brilliant, well written book. ( )

When we first meet Nancy Wake in late February 1944, she’s parachuting out of an airplane over France, assigned to finance, arm, and train Resistance groups in the Auvergne. An Australian-born journalist by training and adventurer by temperament, Nancy goes by several other names, depending on what role she’s playing. Safe to say, though, that if her biography resembles this novel in the slightest — and the author assures us it does — few people could claim to have had a more hair-raising or active role in clandestine World War II operations. Her constant struggle against men who dismiss or try to exploit her adds a superb, extra layer to the story.

Imagine someone talking her way into a job as a stringer for Hearst, with no reporting experience, and turning that into several scoops, including an interview with Hitler, another with a much sought-after Austrian Jewish refugee, and a visit to Vienna to confirm his account of brutality. None of those feats rates a byline, because Hearst won’t give her one — sexism, again. Oh, and by the way, she has one of the richest, most charming men in France wrapped around her finger.

From start to finish, Code Name Hélène will grab you and refuse to let go. It’s got to be one of the most compelling World War II stories I’ve ever read. What’s more, we have several narratives, not just the romance and the clandestine activity but further divisions within each, yet Lawhon stitches them seamlessly, from prewar to the war’s darkest days and back. Rest assured that reversals come thick and fast. As a narrative of action, heartbreak, and sheer brass, Code Name Hélène is hard to beat.

Like any good novelist, Lawhon puts the reader in every scene with physical, active detail evoking emotion, and that’s what hooks you. You could pick any page for an example. Such technique should apply in any novel, but it’s absolutely essential to portray a character like Nancy, who’s not just larger than life; she’s larger than any three lives put together. If the author did not show each moment in its fullness, portraying its intricacies, mysteries, and, often its physical demands on Nancy, which can be excruciating, you might not believe a word. But because you’re inside her skin constantly, you accept what happens.

That said, you might not accept other aspects of the novel, starting with the portrayal of France and the apparent play to a stereotype, the so-called French obsession with sex. I have no idea whether Lawhon intends this, but as a longtime student of French culture and history, I sense it, and it feels like pandering. Where the French take sex as a natural function, Anglo-Saxons find decadence, fit for squirms, shock, and sorry pilgrimages to the Moulin Rouge.

Speaking of men and women, Nancy’s French lover seems to have no inner life, except as it relates to her. He’s a Marseille businessman, a man-about-town, and politically committed, so why doesn’t he have dreams and desires other than Nancy? Many male authors have been rightly criticized for creating female characters who exist solely for the men around them. The fault also applies in reverse.

As for Nancy’s characterization, I kept wanting to find a flaw and couldn’t. Oh, she insists on her perks, sleeping on a mattress in a nightgown, while the Resistance fighters she commands are lucky to have a blanket. But that’s part of her charm, and everyone understands that nobody is tougher than she is or has her physical endurance. I wish that Lawhon had stopped there, however, and eliminated the Hollywood confrontation scenes, complete with righteous speechmaking.

By contrast, Nancy’s antagonists are all bad, including her male rivals within the Resistance. No one, other than they and the Germans, betrays sadism, sexism, anti-Semitism, or xenophobia. The flimsiest prototype is Marceline, Nancy’s rival for her lover’s affections and another instance of Hollywood—the Other Woman with six-inch fangs.

So Code Name Hélène is a curious mix, an absolutely riveting story that sweeps you away and conquers disbelief, yet peopled by figures who seem too cut-and-dried to be real. ( )

If I had read this book instead of listened to the audiobook I might have known that it was based upon the life of a real woman but the author's notes at the end came as a complete surprise to me. I am still in awe of Nancy Wake, a journalist from Austraila who married a Frenchman just before World War II. Her bravery, courage and guts makes me feel very insignificant.

Nancy left Australia at a young age and travelled around the world. She was hired as a free-lance journalist in the 1930s while she was living in Paris. So she was in the right place to see the development of fascism in Europe and to write about it. She even interviewed Adolf Hitler just after he became the chancellor of Germany. However, her name never became known because women journalists were never given a byline at that time. After meeting the very good looking Henri Fiocca who is a shipping magnate based in Marseille she starts spending quite a bit of time there. Eventually Nancy and Henri marry and she moves to Marseille permanently. Henri's former lover, Marceline, is extremely jealous of Nancy and is determined to break up the marriage. When the Germans invade France she becomes a supporter of the Vichy government but Henri and Nancy are firmly on the side of the French resistance. Soon Nancy is helping Jews and others to escape from France and has earned the nickname "La Souri Blanche" or the White Mouse. She has a bounty on her head and has to flee from France, leaving Henri and her dog Picon behind. We know right from the beginning of the book that Nancy returns to France in 1944 to bring help to the maquis, the French resistance, as an operative for the British SOE. In that role she is called Madame Andree but her code name is Helene, hence the title of the book. From dropping by parachute into the French countryside to fleeing to the woods just ahead of the Nazis to being the only woman among two hundred men her life is almost constantly in danger. Although she is in France she cannot contact her husband and she has no idea what has happened to him. She must just put that worry aside until her mission is complete.

This book will be one I recommend to a lot of people I think. ( )

Wonderful book about an amazing woman that earned the respect to lead thousands of soldiers during world war two. Excellent writing that keeps the reader engaged from the first page to the last ( )