How did a young lady from a wealthy family in Maryland end up as the Gestapo's most wanted spy? This YA biography of Virginia Hall, World War II's most successful female spy, will inspire reluctant readers and budding history buffs alike.
Virginia Hall, known to her family as "Dindy," was an athletic, outdoorsy girl who dreamed of joining the foreign service and becoming an ambassador. Despite numerous setbacks, including losing her leg to gangrene after an accident, Virginia never wavered in her determination to serve her country. After the outbreak of World War II, a chance meeting on a train changed her life-George Bellows, an agent of the British Special Operations Executive, recruited her as one of its first women agents. Working for Allied intelligence services in France, Virginia Hall organized French resistance fighters, performed daring rescues, and provided the Allies with intelligence that was key for ousting the Nazis and earned her numerous medals, including the US Army's Distinguished Service Cross.
With chapters titled for each of the many aliases and nicknames used by Virginia Hall, this book takes readers through her extraordinary life and her evolution as a resistance fighter and intelligence operative. Award-winning author Claudia Friddell brings Virginia Hall's bravery, intelligence, and determination to life in this thoroughly researched and photo-filled biography endorsed by Hall's family.
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Claudia Friddell is the author of several children's books, including Cool off and Ride: A Trolley Trip to Beat the Heat; Road Trip: Camping With the Four Vagabonds: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs; To the Front!: Clara Barton Braves the Battle of Antietam; and Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls Answer the Call: The Heroic Story of WWI Telephone Operators. She has been a therapist, a school counselor, and an elementary school teacher.