The Woman with No Name
This novel is based on the real life of Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent Yvonne Rudellat. Born and raised in France, Yvonne moved to London, married a Brit, and had a daughter. But by age 45, her marriage had ended, her child lived with the father, and their London family home had been destroyed by German bomb raids. The SOE recruited her, and in 1942 she became the first SOE-trained female operative in France. There she hand-delivered coded messages to local resistance operatives, rendezvoused with parachute night landings of supplies and more spies, and sabotaged German equipment and trains.
The story is told mostly from Yvonne’s first-person point of view. This makes it easy to feel her feistiness and intensity, the rigors of her training, then her search for disruptive missions while still hiding herself and the locals who help her. An invented character, Nazi military intelligence service officer Max, brutally tries to thwart all resistance in southern France. He begins to scope out this elusive female resistance leader. The novel ends with the actual last days of Yvonne’s life.
Blake’s action scenes are well done. Except for too-easy telephone usage, the details of the land, people, clothes, and vehicles all ring true, especially Yvonne trying to prove herself in a man’s world. The other mostly real-life French resisters are also unique characters. The sometimes clever and sometimes foolish sabotage attempts are based on Yvonne’s actual history. Some readers may be put off by too much introspection and dialogue; however, overall, this is an interesting treatment of a little-known aspect of WWII.
