Customer Reviews

Nancy Wake Biography

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have read previous books on this remarkable lady; these books were a biography by Russell Braddon published in 1957 and
Nancy's autobiography "The White Mouse" published in 1985.
This latest book is something special.
This is a fascinating story of an Australian who in the 1930's travelled to Europe, obtained work as a journalist and saw
(sometimes at first hand) the horrors of Nazi Germany.
Soon after the war began she married a French businessman in Marseille. After France was defeated and divided she, at considerable risk, helped allied serviceman to escape to Britain via neutral Spain. When the Gestapo started to close in she herself escaped to Britain.
She volunteered to join the Special Operations Executive and was
trained in the use of weapons and explosives and in parachute
jumping. She and a British officer parachuted into France to
rendevous with a group of Maquis (French resistance).
A radio operator, who had travelled to France separately, joined

them and they set about assessing the competence and needs of
various groups then arranging drops of weapons and supplies and
training the Maquis in their use. She joined the groups in many
attacks on the Germans notably on the Gestapo HQ in Montlucon. Her joy at the end of the war was muted when she found
that her husband had been betrayed to the Gestapo and killed.
After the war she married an RAF officer and they made their home in Sydney, Australia. She was often interviewed by the media
and expressed her opinions very forcefully.
On the downside the author while telling Nancy's story in fine
style is a bit careless in setting it in the wider background
of World War 2.
One example: on p126 he states that the allied troops who landed in French North Africa on 8 November 1942 were commanded by General Montgomery!
Regardless it is a fascinating book and a good read.

Nancy Wake seemed to be waving goodbye at critical points in her life. Her father left the family and his favourite Nancy without the opportunity of a goodbye. Just left. She left her stifling home in Sydney to work as a nurse. Then saved up to go overseas as soon as she could. With a copy of Anne of Green Gables as an inspirational female role model. She left England to go to France without a very probable chance of coming back alive. Her two farewells from her beloved french husband Henri were heartrending. And her final goodbye to the life of an amazing fighter for freedom against tyranny and downright evil (read the paragraph on the pregnant mother and her child) with the tremendous and well-deserved respect from her fellow french freedom fighters.

I didn't count the months, but it seemed like about two years of absolutely intense and dangerous living in which Nancy Wake made a material contribution toward the success of the D-Day landings by seriously harassing the German troops racing to fend off the Allies, and then limiting their avenues of retreat once the game was up.

Once the book reached the early days of her helping Allied prisoners of war and Jewish refugees escape to England, it was compulsive reading.

The ending is a mixture of triumph and sadness. Triumph that she came through it all still alive (and still is alive in 2009). For crying out loud, she and several handpicked underground fighters lobbed hand grenades into the meeting rooms at a Gestapo headquarters! The sadness is the let-down of post-heroic life. The author could have stopped at the peak of the glory days. But the reality is that her life was relatively boring (for her) when the war was over. She had to work at making it more interesting without the high danger of wartime. She tried a political career, nearly winning three election bids. Then with her new husband seems to have discovered that day to day living with great food and a fun companion and friends is the life.

I recently became involved in the move to have the New Zealand Government recognise Nancy Wake's extraordinary actions and bravery during WWII - this is a long overdue recognition especially since Ms Wake was born in New Zealand and has never surrendered her New Zealand citizenship. What's more, is the unknown number of New Zealand air crew who she directly or indirectly saved by her actions on the O'Leary Line.

In a twist of irony, the New Zealand Parliament recently passed a law that allowed females to serve on the front lines and yet the current government has continuously refused to bestow even a modest degree of recognition on Ms Wake (arguably our greatest front-line female soldier!)

But all that aside, why only two stars for Mr Fitzsimons telling of Nancy's tale? Well as outlined above, Ms Wake is an extraordinary person, displaying amazing courage and devotion to her cause. Yet Fitzsimons dumbs this all down with his inability to actually convey this in his story-telling. The book is loaded with appalling clichés and overloaded with "Aussie" idioms that at points makes the text very hard to read.

Given some of the actions that Ms Wake had to perform (i.e. knifing a German guard) this should not be a tale for the faint-hearted, but Fitzsimons style makes for a light-hearted romp through the rural backblocks of France knocking a few of the nasty huns off for good measure. Without knowing her personally, perhaps Ms Wake does exude a irreverent, yet hard-ass personality, but any attempt by Fitzsimons to convey the seriousness of the situation falls completely flat.

A small, but extremely annoying aspect of this book is Fitzsimons insistence and repetition ad nauseum that all of the troops that Ms Wake's resistance fighters encountered were "elite". Whereas in fact, a quick check revels that until June - August 1944, the majority of German divisions in central France were "Sicherungs" or Security divisions: essentially B-grade divisions that in no way were capable of front-line service.

I guess ultimately a lot can be said for the natural strength of the story that I kept reading to the end hoping that Fitzsimons talents would eventually shine through...alas I remained disappointed until the very last page. I'm hoping that Nancy's own biography will give me a deeper understanding of this remarkable woman.

Nancy gets a double-thumbs up and five stars; but sadly Fitzsimons gets only two stars (mostly for trying, rather than anything else).

A great read - informative and left me wanting more. I couldn't put it down until it was finished. History can be quite boring but Peter Fitzsimmons has a wonderful way of putting the story together that leaves you wanting to read more of his books.

After travelling Europe for a year as an exchange student, I was surprised to find how many people knew of the hilariously inspiring 'white mouse'... So, on a personal mission to find out exactly what her character was like, and her involvement in the French Resistance/WW2, I decided to read all of her auto/biographies - and found this one to be the best.

Fitzsimons doesn't hold back on retelling any of her pre-war experiences as a young girl in Australia, nor of any as a young woman finding herself in the city of her dreams - Paris. All of which give you an excellent idea of Nancy's personality. She's an entertaining, fashionable, give-it-all-a-go, party animal girl who's living the high life in Marseille, until her freedom is threatened by German invadors. After getting to know her character, you understand why she chose a life of secrecy and spying in order to help save the country and people she loved. A rich and fulfilling biography, taken from a fresh perspective... Nancy Wake's story is one not to be put down once started. Peter Fitzsimons writes the best biography of Nancy Wake ever... Fabulous work!

One star for humour, one for honour, one for bravery, one for love and one for Peter and Nancy...

Interestingly, despite having moved to Australia as a child, Nancy Wake was actually born in Wellington, New Zealand and thus the Kiwis have naturally also claimed her as one of their own. Indeed, she is someone we can all be proud of wherever we live because her story is a truly inspirational one. A petite woman (the mouse) who had both the intelligence and such amazing strength of character to outwit the Germans on numerous occasions. To continue on regardless of her own safety and under difficult and nerve-wracking circumstances, to fulfill tasks of stamina beyond many normal capabilites and all to save the lives of countless others. However, before some of you consider this just another [boring] war story think again! It's not. Her story is both heroic and humourous and quite obviously her natural wit and charm has also steered her through many tricky situations. Despite Nancy having admitted that she was also rather promiscuous, I believe it should be compulsory reading in every school as she would still make a wonderful role model for many of today's young girls,(something that is sadly lacking these days). So read it, and it'll help you put your own problems into prospective. You may even feel able to tackle the world yourself...or if all that's a bit too adventurous for you, then at very least those garden weeds will get a good thrashing!! :-)

The story of Nancy Wake's remarkable life is a must-read for anyone with a thirst for knowledge about France before and during the Second World War.

Nancy Wake seemingly had it all - outstanding beauty and intelligence, as well as remarkable spirit and strength of character. Her story would be remarkable enough if it ended a third of the way through the book before the start of the war. In the space of a few years she went from being a naive girl on the far side of the world to a glamourous life in Parisian society and the French Riviera. However her exploits during the war, first in assisting escaping servicemen and resistance fighters to flee occupied France, and later as a British special forces operative leading French resistance fighters, make her a truly heroic figure. She is one of the most decorated fighters of the Second World War, and must be one of the most influential and outstanding Australians to have ever lived.

Fitzsimons tells this tale with an easy-going style. While elsewhere on these pages he is criticised, with some justification, for being trite, the fact that this reader could not put this book down until after 3.00am is justification enough of his style and ability. I urge anyone to read this book - your life will be enriched.

NB: This book makes a great companian-piece to the novels of Alan Furst. The similarily of both writers' descriptions of similar events and themes surrounding the Second World War would seem to be a testament to their ability as writers.

Nancy Wake is an extraordinary person. Her life story, especially her amazing role during WW2 is a ripping yarn begging to be written, spun off into a movie, drawn though a syndicated TV series and eventually culminating in little action commando Nancy dolls from Mattel. Clearly this real life superwoman inspired Peter Fitzsimons to take up the scribe challenge. Pity he can't write.

I couldn't help but picture Steve Irwin, that Crocodile Hunter embarassment, narrating the story: "Oh, crikey mate, take a butcher's at Nancy, a true blue, ridgy-didge, dinky di Aussie battler, having a fair crack of the whip at those nasty pasty German blokes, I tell ya!" There would have to be every recorded Aussie slang expression unimaginatively crammed into this book. Perhaps Fitzsimons was attempting to illustrate Nancy's tough as nails Aussie personality. However it reads as though she exudes this air of flippancy (a misrepresentation one would assume) and provides an overall wishy washy fluffiness to the story, when clearly this is no children's yarn.

I would guess the prospect of flogging this story to some movie studio for mega-bucks essentially erased whatever writing skills Fitz possessed in the first place. At any rate, both he and his wife Lisa (who apparently edited this soulless effort) should count themselves lucky Nancy is no longer in her prime, otherwise she would round up some of her Resistance buddies and waste them.

Anyway, the strength of Nancy's tale lies in the fact I ploughed through to the last page. I understand there exist other biographies and an autobiography and I look forward to sifting through more details on this remarkable woman. With a bit of luck Fitzsimons will be content to live off the royalties from this best-selling novel (go figure) and refrain from further blackening the literature world with another abomination of the English language. Five stars for Nancy, minus 4 for Fitz.

Is this an audio only book or can it be read on a Kindle? The book description is very vague on this point and I do not want to spend $23 on something I have to listen to.

Thanks