By Ariel Lawhon

She not only served in World War II, she helped end it.

The Great War is almost two decades past and the world has started healing. It’s the time to drink, eat, and celebrate life.

For Nancy Wake, France is where opportunity awaits as a serious journalist… not that she’ll get any credit for it, women aren’t given by-lines in reputable publishing. But it doesn’t stop her or turn her away.

In Marseilles is where Nancy meets the original billionaire playboy philanthropist himself, (no, not Tony Stark), Henri Fiocca. But no sooner are the two drawn together are they torn apart by the threats of a second war.

Henri, after serving in the Great War, is called upon to serve once again. But Nancy refuses to be a stay at home housewife which launched her into a world of combat, leadership, and espionage where she became one of the Gestapo’s main targets; known only as la souris blanche.

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Nancy Wake was a real person. I think that is one of the most impressive parts about this story. While author, Ariel Lawhon, made it very clear that there was some creative liberty taken to develop this book as historical fiction, most of the dates and events happened exactly as Nancy, herself described them in her autobiography The White Mouse.

From the start of the book we are launched from a plane into the war zone in France where Nancy, in her red lipstick and true to fashion, disregards protocol to make use of what little she has on hand. She is there to supply and arm the Resistance. She is Helene, the spy.

The story goes back and forth from the mid-1930s where Nancy explains how she met Henri and the challenges they faced in their early courtship – including one of Henri’s jilted former lovers, Marceline, who tries to seduce him every chance she gets. But it’s shortly after their marriage that Nancy Fiocca takes on a new identity; one she uses to smuggle Jews out of Nazi occupied territories and provide documentation to those she was tasked with saving – Lucienne Carlier.

But it wasn’t until she was down in the dirt that she became Madame Andree, the leader of the Maquis – a French resistance group made up of farmboys and non-military French citizens. Together with her small group of Special Operations Executive members, she organized, armed, and led military operations throughout southern France.

So to say Nancy was incredible is an understatement. Lawhon took actual events from Nancy’s life and disorganized them into an engaging and addicting fictional retelling. Yes, we could read a fanfiction of Nancy’s life from beginning to end, and still be impressed and amazed by her accomplishments, but Lawhorn takes it a step further. She brings us closer to Nancy as a person. We recall things as Nancy recalls them: in the midst of bullets flying and horrific scenes of war crimes.

In truth, I am not the type of person who reads historical fiction. Nine times out of ten, I’d rather pick up the biography instead. But Ariel Lawhon captivated and enamored me with her spin on the incredible feats Nancy had to face before, during, and after the war. Nancy is the definition of a strong female lead.

Not to mention that, above all, this is a tortured romance. Nancy and Henri were so in love only to be torn apart by forces beyond their control. She fought and clawed her way back home.

I’m not even going to do a recommended list this time, because I think everyone will get something out of this book. WWII buffs, romance-addicts, those who love a strong female lead – it’s all there.

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