Mar 25

Community Read: Sonia Purnell Virtual Talk

3:30pm - 5:00pm Online Event

About This Event

The Community Read of Sonia Purnell’s acclaimed book A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II (2020) will continue with a virtual discussion with the author at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25. The online talk is free and open to the public.

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”

Cover of A Woman of No Importance

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.

Purnell’s acclaimed book explores 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.