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Code Name Helene - Ariel Lawhon - LitLovers Code Name Helene - Ariel Lawhon - LitLovers

I’m recommending Code Name Hélène for fans of fast-paced, suspenseful, and gritty historical fiction who are OK with intense situations and graphic descriptions and for readers who make it their mission to read everything Ariel Lawhon writes. Crikey! I am so glad Ariel Lawhon wrote this little-known story of one of WWII's greatest military leaders, Australian war heroine Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, who not only led successful missions with the French Resistance, but who also killed a Nazi with her bare hands! Readers will be transfixed by the story of a woman who should be a household name.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL *STARRED*

Because Code Name Hélène is set during WW11 and the French Resistance Movement, readers need to be prepared that this is an intense read (at least it was for me!). Characteristic of the real-life Nancy Wake, there is a great deal of profanity. In addition, the narrative includes at least two graphic and descriptive torture scenes and a couple of executions. If this were a movie, it would be rated R.

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Genre/Categories/Setting: Biographical Historical Fiction, World War 11, French Resistance Movement, France In the 1930s, Wake was an Australian expat living in Paris and had brilliantly bluffed her way into a journalism gig stringing for the European branch of the Hearst Newspaper Group. Well before the start of the war, Wake documented the depravity and revolting cruelty of Adolf Hitler’s private militia known as the Brownshirts. On assignment in 1934 in Vienna’s Old Square, she and her photographer witnessed the paramilitary group publicly and viciously torturing an old Jewish shopkeeper, something the Brownshirts apparently liked to do on Fridays before the beginning of Shabbat.

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I’m fairly certain there is pond scum in my bra. Possibly my underwear as well. The thought of what I’ll find when I get to the shower makes me a little uneasy. (c) There is nothing strange about the men in my flat. And I am certain that my husband will be delighted to hear that my cousins have come to visit me. He’s rather fond of them.”“Cousins?” Lawhon breathes new life into Nancy Wake’s extraordinary story. Rich and thoroughly researched, an exciting, well-written account of wartime valour and the protagonist’s qualities shine through’ The Times Inspired by true wartime events, Code Name Hélène is a gripping and moving story of extraordinary courage, unfaltering resolve, remarkable sacrifice – and enduring love. Nancy's different identities, totaling four, are not exactly told chronologically. The book is told in dual timelines, but two of her identities are not described until much later in the second half of the book. But, what happens is kind of all over the place. The story of Nancy as the WWII heroine was scattered and rambling. The story of what she did under each identity isn't balanced, and the reader sees more from her as the fighter Madame Andrèe.

Code Name Helene (Lawhon) Summary Guide - LitLovers Code Name Helene (Lawhon) Summary Guide - LitLovers

featuring the astonishing woman who killed a Nazi with her bare hands and went on to become one of the most decorated women in WWII.... I have read many stories of the famous Australian, Nancy Wake; I even have her biography autographed by Nancy herself. I found Code Name Helene to be refreshing and heartwarmingly real. Nancy Wake went through several years of pure hell during WWII but it was when she met her husband-to-be, Henri Fiocca in 1936 that she found, for the first time in her life, true love. Nancy and Henri hadn’t been married long when war was declared and Henri was called up to fight, leaving Nancy home alone. It didn’t take her long to start working for the French Resistance and she eventually became the White Mouse, named because the Germans were unable to find and capture her.Nancy became one of the most decorated women of World War II, she was a strong and respected military leader. It was just gibberish at first. A good hour of it. You know, the typical nonsense. ‘The crocodile is thirsty’ or ‘You may now shake the trees and gather the pears’ or ‘Is Mrs. Munchkin ready to play a game of boules in the yonder dark forest?’ Just all that garbage they spout every night as misinformation. But then it came. That one phrase. ‘I wish I was by the seaside at sunrise.’ And everyone knew.” (c) When I read the author’s notes I found that my feelings about the amount of time spent on their relationship wasn’t far from what the author intended. She states “This is a novel about marriage. Yes, of course, it’s also about war and friendship and bravery and tragedy and one of the most important conflicts of the 20th century . . . But to me, at its heart, this is a novel about a woman and her husband and the sacrifices made by both in the midst of extraordinary circumstances”. I felt that the author’s notes were a better description of the book than the blurb that accompanied the book's title.

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon | Goodreads

A lot of the past, 1936, is about how Nancy met her husband, Henri. The development of their relationship takes the limelight for the first half of the book. Masterful. . . Exhaustively researched and vividly woven. . . As much an epic love story as an engrossing narrative of an unlikely anti-Nazi combatant. . . Lawhon has proven herself a master at her craft, and she does readers a great service with Code Name Hélène.” — CHAPTER16 I finished this a few weeks ago and I’m still thinking about Hélène . . . exceptional‘ 5 stars (Goodreads reviewer) Told in interweaving timelines organized around the four code names Nancy used during the war, Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.

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I read a lot of WWII fiction and I also can’t help feeling a little protective of Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, who is something of a fellow Australian - although she was born in NZ, she moved here when she was 2 and spent a good part of her adult life here - so it’s full credit to Lawhorn’s depth of research that her portrayal of Nancy’s heroism during the war and of Nancy’s character is just brilliant. I cannot recommend this one highly enough - go read it, now! told in interweaving timelines, the riveting plot is full of descriptive intrigue. I would look forward to listening to this audiobook whenever life called me away; It's no secret that I love books with strong women. Women with gumption. They inspire me. To loosely paraphrase Lawhon "Women like Nancy have always existed. But when men write the history books we don't hear about them." In my opinion- it's time we hear her story because it s so.darn.good! Are we really going to stand here and argue about the tangled nature of my family tree while my guests are left unattended?” (c)