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Nancy Wake  By  cover art

Nancy Wake

By: Peter FitzSimons
Narrated by: Stephanie Daniel
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Publisher's summary

In the early 1930s, Nancy Wake was a young woman enjoying a bohemian life in Paris. By the end of the Second World War, she was the Gestapo's most wanted person. As a naive, young journalist, Nancy Wake witnessed a horrific scene of Nazi violence in a Viennese street. From that moment, she declared that she would do everything in her power to rid Europe of the Nazis.

What began as a courier job here and there became a highly successful escape network for Allied soldiers, perfectly camouflaged by Nancy's high-society life in Marseille. Her network was soon so successful – and so notorious – that she was forced to flee France to escape the Gestapo, who had dubbed her 'the white mouse' for her knack of slipping through its traps. But Nancy was a passionate enemy of the Nazis and refused to stay away.

Supplying weapons and training members of a powerful underground fighting force, organising Allied parachute drops, cycling four hundred kilometres across a mountain range to find a new transmitting radio – nothing seemed too difficult in her fight against the Nazis. Peter FitzSimons reveals Nancy Wake's compelling story, a tale of an ordinary woman doing extraordinary things.

©2002 Peter Fitzsimons (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Nancy Wake

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Nancy Wake

Such an amazing woman for her time. Her sheer bravery and spirit of mateship and battling for the underdog is so typical of many of Australia's great characters but what made this all the more remarkable is that she was a young, energetic woman who made a stand and fought for what she believed in at huge personal cost. That her story is so largely unknown to mainstream Australia is a shame and deserves to be told. The author wrote with such feminine insight that it was a joy to listen to and he really captured the essence of the gutsy woman that was Nancy Wake. Her end in London was so sad with little recognition from Australia for her truly remarkable war contributions. I hope her recent death reinvigorates interest in her story. She is a national treasure that we should have great pride in.

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7 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Hero, Yes but told in such a boring way.

I did not previously know about Nancy Wake. And it had been a good long time since I learned much about WWII history. So reading about her story and the role of France in the war was probably the only thing that made me finish this book. I found the constant french pronunciation of words to be very distracting. And the narrator does a lot of very audible swallowing at the end of many of the longer sentences.

If you like history, especially when a woman is the subject of the story then maybe this is for you. So many others seemed to have loved this book but for me, it was just too drawn out and hard to listen to.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A true Australian Heroine

What a joy to listen to Peter FitzSimons's biography of this incredible lady's or maybe larrikin's is a better word, biography and narrated as though by Nancy herself. Having grown up in WW2, with my father and brother participating, my memories are very clear of the stories of courage during that time. Mr FitzSimon writes great books and articles and I downloaded this book with relish and was not disappointed.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Remarkable Tale of a Strong, Courageous Woman

Peter FitzSimons tells the life story of an extraordinary Australian heroine in Nancy Wake. Nancy Wake grew up poor in Australia after her father abandoned the family about 1915 when Nancy was 2 or 3. At 16 she ran away from the city to the outback and worked as a nurse.

At 18, she inherited a small sum from an aunt and went by ship to New York, where she learned to party, and then on to London, where she became a journalist and continued the party life. While on assignment in Vienna during the 30's, Nancy watched Nazi gangs beating Jews at random in the streets and vowed she would do anything she could to defeat Hitler. In 1939, she married a wealthy Frenchman and lived in Marseilles, living the high life of drinking and parties.

After the fall of France in 1940, Nancy acted as a courier for the Resistance, and also became part of an escape network which helped thousand of Allied troops escape to England. Despite the danger, she continued the work after Marseilles was occupied and became the Gestapo's most wanted person, with a reward of 5 million francs offered. After being arrested and rescued, she escaped to Spain by crossing the Pyrenees mountains on foot.

Back in England Nancy trained with Special Operations and parachuted back into the Auvergne region of France to liaise with the local maquis group. She gained acceptance and respect from the fighting men by drinking them all under the table and then by being braver than all of them. By the end of the war, her maquis group had grown to 7,000 plus, and had a remarkable fighting record.

How can you not like a woman who, while dangling from a tree by her parachute, replies to a Frenchman's remark about the beautiful fruit of the tree, "Don't give me that French s---!"

FitzSimons tells Nancy's story in a somewhat journalistic style. Nancy lived to be 98 and died in 2011, so he had the opportunity to talk with her many times and make it a more personal story than a straight biography. She was a very colorful, down to earth person, and her personal recollections add to the enjoyment of the narrative. Stephanie Daniel does an excellent job of narration.

Fascinating and entertaining.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Rip-Snort of a Good Tale

What a great story. A girl with more curiosity and determination than sense left her home in Australia and found herself in the middle of France during WWII.

This is an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride, but one of the things I most enjoyed about it was that the author did not paint Nancy as a saint. She smoked and swore and could out-drink most men. She was willful and had some definite personality quirks. I had to keep reminding myself how young she was and the attitudes of the time. (She was just a few years older than my mother.) All this made it much more interesting for me.

I am so glad that I saw this book. It would make great reading for young women, late high school and college age.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful read!

Where does Nancy Wake rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

My favourite audiobook of all time! What a character she was!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Nancy Wake?

Her escape from Nazi - occupied France into Spain, this woman wasn`t taking any nonsense from anyone!

Have you listened to any of Stephanie Daniel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Unfortunately I haven`t listened to any of Stephanie Daniel`s performances before, but will look out for in the future.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nancy`s treatment after the war, after all the challenges she faced and overcame during it, how could she manage after? Life would seem dull to anyone.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Learn and be impressed

I'd never heard of Nancy Wake so all of this was new to me. She did everything she could to fight against the Nazis. Actually, to fight for humanity and against cruelty. It's amazing to think what suffering some people have endured and here we are in America willing to sell freedom for something as ordinary as cash.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed with audio book.

What would have made Nancy Wake better?

The story lacked intrigue

Would you ever listen to anything by Peter FitzSimons again?

Probably not

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Nancy Wake - for me a great Australian whose history is intriguing. The book did not capture this for me.

What character would you cut from Nancy Wake?

None

Any additional comments?

I think the story suffered from the style of Peter FitzSimons' writing. Very pedestrian style.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Rose-coloured heroine

Nancy Wake was a woman of extraordinary heroism, and this is a story of a truly fascinating life - at least up to the end of WW2. Her bravery and sheer determination are inspiring. It is interesting and quite sad, however, that the rest of her life seems such an anticlimax after her experiences in the war - reminds me of the David Hare play, "Plenty".

However, this book is like a hagiography - obviously the author loves his subject, but somehow the portrayal of her lacks depth and feels airbrushed. The narrator also lets the overall impact down with a rather stilted delivery, but I think she is doing the best she can with material that is sometimes fairly clunky.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story, great character

This was a great story, full of adventure, drama, intrigue. The main character, Nancy Wake, had a larger-than-life experience. She lived through a period where there were clear delineations of good and evil and she fought for the right because it was the right thing to do and it had to be done.

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