Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

We liked this one for being a real page turner with an interesting plot, but we also all agreed that if you truly want to know about Nancy Wake, on whom the novel is based, you will have to read elsewhere.

Some of us deducted a few points in disappointment that the book is not wholly faithful to Nancy's biography with the author adding a few characters and incidents for added drama, humour and romance in the story. We were also unhappy about some technological slip-ups, such as the rapid wire transfer of money (not likely to happen in only a few hours in the 1940s) to a small provincial bank (unlikely to have the amount of cash concerned readily to hand). However, the coal-fired trucks in 1940s France did apparently exist.

Finally, if you are not a fan of graphic violence, this may not be the book for you - although there was a War going on, after all. For those of you who have no idea who Nancy Wake is she lived from 30 August 2012 - 7 August 2011 and was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II.

She was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and grew up in Sydney. By the 1930s she was living in Marseille with her French industrialist husband, Henri Fiocca. When the War broke out she became a courier for an escape network and helped Allied airmen evade capture by the Nazis and escape to Spain. In 1943 she, too, escaped capture and travelled to London. Her husband was captured and executed by the Gestapo.

In Britain, Nancy joined the SOE under the code name Hélène. In 1944 she was parachuted back into France to act as a liaison officer between the SOE and several Maquis (French resistance) groups in the Auvergne region, culminating in a major battle with the Nazis in June 1944 after D Day.

The book is told in a variety of timelines, each labelled at the start of a chapter by a particular code name which Nancy was assigned at the time, or by her real name. At times, Nancy's French husband, Henri, has a say. Some of us found this a bit confusing at times.

Nancy's personality as described in the book is apparently true to life - despite always wearing Victory Red lipstick, she was a hard drinking woman who was not afraid to swear and not afraid to stand up to men. As a result the men she assisted respected her. However, the author is at pains to point out that French husband, Henri, teaches her both how to swear and how to drink without feeling the effects of it. This may be an attempt to soften Nancy and make her a more appealing character. In truth, according to people who knew her at the SOE she had 'irrepressible, infectious high spirits'.

One of our club member's mother knew the real Nancy when she lived in Port Macquarie after the War and found her "a strange person and not very easy to like as she was a bit abrupt and not really interested in anyone else." She apparently did not find life after the War very easy.

Perhaps the best thing about this book, apart from it being an entertaining read, is that it inspires the reader to find out more about the facts of the Vichy Government's collaboration with the Nazis and about the work of the French Resistance in the Auvergne.

For those wanting to read more about the real Nancy Wake, her autobiography, The White Mouse (1985) and Peter Fitzsimmon's 2011 book (based on interviews when she was quite old - she died at the age of 98), Nancy Wake: A Biography of our Greatest War Hero are both available on Audible while these two titles plus Russell Braddon's book, Nancy Wake: the Story of a Very Brave Woman (1956) are available in the library (although the latter only via eBook).

Who is Ariel Lawhon?

 Ariel Lawhon is an American bestselling author of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into numerous languages and have been Library Reads, One Book One County, Indie Next, Costco, and Book of the Month Club selections. She is the author of The Wife the Maid and the Mistress, Flight of Dreams, I was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène.