Why a Booktrail?
1936: Inspired by true wartime events based on the life of Nancy Wake
Code Name Hélène
What you need to know before your trail
In 1936, foreign correspondent, Nancy Wake, witnesses first-hand the terror of Hitler’s rise in Europe. No sooner has Nancy met, fallen in love with and agreed to marry French industrialist Henri Fiocca, than the Germans invade France and force her to take on her first code name of many. The Gestapo call her the White Mouse for her remarkable ability to evade capture when smuggling Allied soldiers across borders. She becomes Hélène when she leaves France to train in espionage with an elite special forces group in London. Then, when she returns to France, she is the deadly Madame Andrée. But the closer France gets to liberation, the more exposed Nancy – and the people she loves – will become.
Travel Guide
Map of Nancy’s France from the book (c) Headline
Nancy Grace Augusta Wake (1912 – 2011) was born in New Zealand and was a nurse and journalist. She joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. She lived in Marseille when the war broke out and when France fell to Nazi Germany in 1940, she became a carrier for the Pat O’Leary escape network (This was a network which helped Allied Airmen to escape to Spain).She too later escaped to Spain after persecution before heading to London.
Once there, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) under the code name “Hélène”. For example, she parachuted into Auvergne province She became in charge of pinpointing locations at which material and money were parachuted in, collecting it, and allocating it among the SOE team she worked with.
They had to flee the Germans and it was during this time she did an amazing bike ride inorder to complete a necessary communication link between France and London – she borrowed a bicycle and rode it to Chateauroux, from Saint-Santin, which was some 500 kilometres (310 miles) in just 72 hours.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Code Name Hélène
Destination/location: France Author/guide: Ariel Lawhon Departure Time: 1936
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