Even as she was growing up in a posh Baltimore family a century ago, Virginia Hall defied convention. Still, no one--especially after a hunting accident forced amputation of her lower left leg-- could imagine she’d become one of the most intrepid spies of World War II.
Rejected as a junior diplomat by the U.S., Hall got a field job in a fledgling British spy operation. It sent her to France to support the resistance against the Nazis. She took alarming risks, adroitly dodging betrayal.
“She would constantly change her address. She would constantly change her looks, putting little rubber slivers in her cheeks so the shape of her face changed. But that was largely what she had between her and capture.”
Author Sonia Purnell on her spell-binding book A Woman of No Importance.
