
A Woman of No Importance
The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
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Narrated by:
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Juliet Stevenson
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By:
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Sonia Purnell
About this listen
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
Chosen as a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by NPR, the New York Public Library, Amazon, the Seattle Times, the Washington Independent Review of Books, PopSugar, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, BookBrowse, the Spectator, and the Times of London
Shortlisted for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography
“Excellent.... This book is as riveting as any thriller, and as hard to put down.” (The New York Times Book Review)
"A compelling biography of a masterful spy, and a reminder of what can be done with a few brave people - and a little resistance." (NPR)
"A meticiulous history that reads like a thriller." (Ben Macintyre)
A never-before-told story of Virginia Hall, the American spy who changed the course of World War II, from the author of Clementine
In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her."
The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and - despite her prosthetic leg - helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.
Virginia established vast spy networks throughout France, called weapons and explosives down from the skies, and became a linchpin for the Resistance. Even as her face covered wanted posters and a bounty was placed on her head, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped through a death-defying hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown. But she plunged back in, adamant that she had more lives to save, and led a victorious guerilla campaign, liberating swathes of France from the Nazis after D-Day.
Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall - an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war.
©2019 Sonia Purnell (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"[An] excellent biography...if Virginia Hall herself remains something of an enigma - a testament, perhaps, to the skills that allowed her to live in the shadows for so long - the extraordinary facts of her life are brought onto the page here with a well-judged balance of empathy and fine detail. This book is as riveting as any thriller, and as hard to put down." (The New York Times Book Review)
“Purnell’s writing is as precise and engaging as her research, and this book restores overdue attention to one of the world’s great war heroes. It’s a joy to read, and it will swell readers' hearts with pride.” (Booklist)
"A gripping take…a compelling biography of a masterful spy, and a reminder of what can be done with a few brave people - and a little resistance.” (NPR.org)
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- By: Heather McGhee
- Narrated by: Heather McGhee
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all.
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Good book but Recording tech is poor. Glitches
- By Jeannepup on 02-25-21
By: Heather McGhee
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A Long Petal of the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.
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Impressive
- By Jean on 05-24-20
By: Isabel Allende, and others
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Whole Again
- Healing Your Heart and Rediscovering Your True Self After Toxic Relationships and Emotional Abuse
- By: Jackson MacKenzie, Shannon Thomas - foreword
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith, Erin Spencer
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Jackson MacKenzie has helped millions of people in their struggle to understand the experience of toxic relationships. His first book, Psychopath Free, explained how to identify and survive the immediate situation. In this highly anticipated new audiobook, he guides listeners on what to do next - how to fully heal from abuse in order to find love and acceptance for the self and others. MacKenzie shares insights and tools for working through the protective self we've developed so that we can finally move on to live a full and authentic life.
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Good content, but to much repeat
- By Adri on 03-23-19
By: Jackson MacKenzie, and others
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Wrong Place Wrong Time
- A Novel
- By: Gillian McAllister
- Narrated by: Lesley Sharp
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.
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Love this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-04-22
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Finding the Mother Tree
- Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
- By: Suzanne Simard
- Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life.
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Couldn't finish, will try the hard copy
- By primrose on 07-22-21
By: Suzanne Simard
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American Sherlock
- Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities - beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners, and hundreds upon hundreds of books - sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least 2,000 cases in his 40-year career. Known as the "American Sherlock Holmes", Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest - and first - forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural.
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Always use a professional Editor and Reader
- By Steven F. Schroeder on 02-19-20
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Red Comet
- The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath
- By: Heather Clark
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 45 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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With a wealth of never-before-accessed materials, Heather Clark brings to life the brilliant Sylvia Plath, who had precocious poetic ambition and was an accomplished published writer even before she became a star at Smith College. Refusing to read Plath’s work as if her every act was a harbinger of her tragic fate, Clark considers the sociopolitical context as she thoroughly explores Plath’s world.
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Amazing!
- By Glitchzig on 10-28-20
By: Heather Clark
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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- A Novel
- By: Ocean Vuong
- Narrated by: Ocean Vuong
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late 20s, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born - a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam - and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
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Beautifully written, but painful.
- By NB on 06-10-19
By: Ocean Vuong
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The Quiet Americans
- Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - a Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Scott Anderson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Scott Anderson
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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At the end of World War II, the United States was considered the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom. But it was clear—to some—that the Soviet Union was already seeking to expand and foment revolution around the world, and the American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly formed CIA. Chronicling their fascinating lives, Scott Anderson follows the exploits of four spies. Despite their ambitions, time and again their efforts went awry, thwarted by ham-fisted politicking and ideological rigidity at the highest levels of the government.
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A Tragedy for One
- By Amazon Customer on 09-23-20
By: Scott Anderson
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Klara and the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?
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Well Worth Having Waited For!
- By otherdeb on 03-04-21
By: Kazuo Ishiguro
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The Note Through the Wire
- The Incredible True Story of a Prisoner of War and a Resistance Heroine
- By: Doug Gold
- Narrated by: Conrad Coleby
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe, two people meet fleetingly in a chance encounter. One an underground resistance fighter, a bold young woman determined to vanquish the enemy occupiers; the other a prisoner of war, a man longing to escape the confines of the camp so he can battle again. A crumpled note passes between these two strangers, slipped through the wire of the compound, and sets them on a course that will change their lives forever.
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Power of love and anguish
- By CL on 04-05-25
By: Doug Gold
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We Must Be Brave
- By: Frances Liardet
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle, Juliet Mills
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone. Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband, Selwyn, had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all.
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Nasty reviews, why? Beautiful book.
- By Kelly on 11-27-19
By: Frances Liardet
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Sweet Tea and Sympathy
- By: Molly Harper
- Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Margot Cary has spent her life immersed in everything Lake Sackett is not. As an elite event planner, Margot's rubbed elbows with the cream of Chicago society and made elegance and glamour her business. She's riding high until one event goes tragically, spectacularly wrong. Now she's blackballed by the gala set and in dire need of a fresh start - and apparently the McCreadys are in need of an event planner with a tarnished reputation.
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I usually want Molly's books to go on forever....
- By TMCarlson on 11-25-17
By: Molly Harper
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Sing You Home
- A Novel
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer, Brian Hutchison, Mia Barrow, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people - even those she loves and trusts most - don’t want that to happen.
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The singing ruins it!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-27-19
By: Jodi Picoult
What listeners say about A Woman of No Importance
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- Jojo
- 01-13-20
Fantastic Story, Distracting Narration
Overall I really enjoyed this book, I appreciate the research that went in (even i there IS a bit too much speculation about what "Virginia must have felt" for my taste). Where I had real difficulty was with the narration. From the get-go I couldn't understand 1) Why a book about an American woman is narrated by someone with a British accent and 2) Why such a HEAVY, over-enunciating, Downton Abby style narration? It really didn't seem to fit the feel of the story - Virginia was anything but a prim and proper lady, so I don't understand.
Additionally, the put-on accents (especially the American accent that sounded a lot like when Raj on Big Bang Theory does his joke American Accent) were really distracting and pulled focus from the story.
The continuous forays into French, as well as the French pronunciations of the names made it very difficult to follow as one who speaks literally no French (yes, I understand that its correct, but for an American audience trying to make sense of an Audiobook with 100+ French names being said with a French accent... its highly confusing).
So basically, I loved the story, its told well, provides the right details, hits its most important points well. I would opt for reading rather than listening though, if I could do it over.
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14 people found this helpful
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- havanese lover
- 10-06-21
Great story, narration didn’t do it Justice
This is a worthwhile book to read as it’s both an incredible and important story. Unfortunately, despite many exciting twists in the true life plot, the narration was dry and made the experience of listening to the book feel more like I was listening to a history textbook. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I read the book the old fashioned way. I read some similar reviews about the narration and tried to be open minded but I now definitely agree with the other reviewers, especially after listening to some other books with amazing narration that truly brought characters and action to life.
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2 people found this helpful
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- ML Sadler
- 02-19-20
Amazing story of incredibly capable woman...
... and the all too familiar misogynist leaders who refused to allow her talents to be recognized. Yet during her time in occupied France, she created and led resistance fighters to help overthrow the Nazis. Hers is a story that needed to be told about the woman the Gestapo called the "most dangerous Allied spy". There have been 5 previous books written about Virginia Hall's life and courageous exploits so I was extremely surprised that I had not heard of her before this book. I rarely write reviews but this book must be heard. Juliet Stevenson's narration is wonderful. (One tiny glitch at the very end of the book - heard only by American ears. She mispronounces Alan Dulles name - 'Dulls' instead of 'Dull ess'). As the CIA secret report on her career states, "the CIA admitted that her fellow officers felt she had been sidelined, shunted into backwater accounts because she had so much experience that she overshadowed her male colleagues who felt threatened by her." Virginia Hall's story is one to be celebrated and not to be missed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- P. Greenspon
- 04-06-22
Poor choice of narrator.
Ms. Hall was an American and her story should have been read by either an American or someone who could do a credible American accent. Unfortunately, Juliet Stevenson was neither.
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1 person found this helpful
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- CTPETE
- 05-01-19
Worthwhile read!!
Don’t pass this by. It’s riveting.
It will stay with you for days. Well written and narrated.
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- Christina Marmara
- 07-22-19
Amazing
What an amazing story, I was completely hooked from the first minute to the last
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- Shaun
- 04-09-20
I had never heard of her!
What a strange thing to get so far along in life, having read many books , and never heard of Virginia Hall. What an extraordinary woman, what an extraordinary life. The challenges she met and overcame are remarkable. I'm recommending this book to all my friends and family. What an example to us all. I only regret that she was not treated better after the war.
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- Sarge
- 09-19-19
Great “Herstory”!
I have been wanting some history on the French Resistance, and found exactly that and more in this great story. The fact that it was educational and entertaining, intriguing and dramatic along with a true female hero was an awesome experience. I’m sorry it takes us so long to recognize the influence and valor of so many at a time of such darkness and need, so long after the fact. We should have all grown up knowing about Virginia Hall. Thank you for the great listen.
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- Kathleen M
- 03-01-20
A great read
Although this is non-fiction, it reads like a great spy novel - & its all true. Very exciting & suspenseful. Virginia Hall makes me proud to be a woman & an American. Well researched, it taught me a lot about what happened in France during WW II-very illuminating. Also very frustrating about the way women were treated at the time.
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- Susan M
- 05-19-19
Riveting story
An amazing story about an amazing woman. I couldn’t stop listening to find out what happened.
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