Nancy Wake

By: Peter FitzSimons

Narrated by: Stephanie Daniel

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

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.

©2001 Peter FitzSimons and Nancy Wake. Peter Fitzsimons asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this Work. First published by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited in. This audio version produced by arrangement with HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited. (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing

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.

Australian woman becomes French Freedom Fighter!

Would you consider the audio edition of Nancy Wake to be better than the print version?

I enjoyed the Audio version but did not read the print, so it's hard to say. The only problem I had with the audio was some mispronunciation, which could be a cultural thing. I am American and I know the British tend to pronounce words different than I am used to. I listened to this book with great pleasure and thought it quite exciting, I can only say that the print version would probably be the same.

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

I enjoyed her training in Scotland the most and I also liked the part where she actually had to use her hands as killers when she confronted some Nazi's.

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

Never listened to her before that I can remember. She did a fine job other than the facts I listed above about some words I would pronounce differently.

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

When she found out the fate of her beloved husband, Henri. I was as emotionally spent as she must have been.

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful book about a colorful woman that I had never heard about before. I would love to see Nicole Kidman make a movie based on this book. She would be brilliant!

amazing story

I had never heard of Nancy Wake before coming across this story. What an amazing life, though, most of us won't ever come close to it. This wasn't like a thriller that you couldn't put down but it was an enjoyable listen that I blew right through.

Amazing story...too much "telling"

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this a friend. The story is another incredible tale of WWII, one with which I was not familiar. I wish the writer created more story and less telling about the story.

Would you be willing to try another book from Peter FitzSimons? Why or why not?

Yes, I would try another book, but I didn't think his approach to writing this book did the story justice. Without the amazing story to build on, I wouldn't have enjoyed listening as much. It got a bit long.

What about Stephanie Daniel’s performance did you like?

Good reading, no complaints.

Any additional comments?

I enjoy discovering new stories from this time period, It is quite amazing just how many interesting events happened to "ordinary" people. Reading stories about WWII from different perspectives, county locations, and different people's jobs or involvement helps round out my overall understanding and appreciation of how much was happening concurrently in so many different places and to so many different people.

Great, great story

Wow. I totally enjoyed this book, the true story of Nancy Wake, a New Zealand-born Australian who was a major figure in the French Resistance in WWII. The story of how she got there and her activities during the war is riveting; I enjoyed every minute of it. What an amazing woman. Read it. You'll hardly be able to believe it.

Nancy Wake misses the nasty bits

but for all of that, a wonderful life and reasonably well read. You need to ignore the exaggerated Australian accent at the beginning but, for all of that a wonderful life and reasonably well read. It is a pity that the author sugar coated some of Nancy's cruel (but perhaps necessary) actions during the war. I personally believe that Nancy was an incredible woman, not a nice woman, but an incredible woman of her time. I think perhaps this author liked her a little too much to talk about some of the "not nice" things?

Great Book

This book is informative, thrilling, honest, suspenseful, and weirdly timely. Feminists, give to your daughters!

I had to remind myself to breathe

I expected to like the book. I like biographies in general and biographies of strong women in particular. I generally knew the story about Nancy Wake and I was in the Navy during the Vietnam war era. But what I was not prepared for was how gripping the story would be! Even though I knew the ending, even though I knew that she survived the war, it is an incredible story. The combination of the vivid writing and the top-notch narration made me feel like I was watching a movie of Nancy Wake's life. I was riding right along beside her in that airplane when she was dropped into France. And when she finally got her bus I laughed out loud. Imagine trying to hide something in the woods like that from German patrols! By the time I reached the end of the book I was trembling with emotion.

For anyone who wants to carry this a bit further there is a BBC series which is available on amazon video (no, I don't work for Amazon) called Wish Me Luck which is about the SOE and the work they did with the French Resistance in WWII.

Fascinating and impressive!

Obviously the story of Nancy Wake is incomparable but this is also a very well researched and written account of this extraordinary woman in extraordinary times.

a Hero

“Nancy Wake: A Biography of our Greatest War Heroine” by Peter FitzSimons was published in 2010. FitzSimons is an Australian journalist. Nancy Wake was the most decorated women from World War II. FitzSimons’ well-paced and compelling biography is well-documented. FitzSimons drew his research from earlier biographies such as Russell Braddon’s “Nancy Wake: the Story of a Very Brave Woman” published in 1956 and Wake’s autobiography “The White Mouse” published in 1985. FitzSimons also had many interviews with Nancy Wake as well as fellow agents, resistance fighters and Colonel Buckmaster. Buckmaster was head of the British Special operations (BSO).

Wake was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1912. The book covers her early childhood in New Zealand and Australia. After she finished school she moved to England where she learned to be a journalist. She obtained a job as a European correspondent for the Hearst Newspaper and was stationed in Paris. In the 1930’s she witnessed the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement. She reports seeing roving Nazi gangs beat Jewish men and women in the streets of Vienna.

In 1937 Wake married wealthy French industrialist Henri Edmond Fiocca (1898-1943). They were living in Marseille, France when Germany invaded. Nancy became a courier for the French Resistance, then help set up the escape network to help escaping allied soldiers and Jews. The Gestapo called her “The White Mouse”. She became the most wanted person by the Gestapo with a reward for her capture. She had to escape to Britain herself where she was recruited by Colonel Buckmaster. She was trained by the British Special Operations and parachuted into Auvergne, France in 1944. She led over 7000 Maquis, equipping them with the latest arms from England, training them and leading them on assigned (BSO) attacks against the Germans. At the end of the war Wake learned her husband was tortured and killed by the Gestapo because he would not reveal her whereabouts.

FitzSimons’ narrative authentically captures the tone and atmosphere of Wake’s hazardous life. He breathtakingly describes her escapades against the Germans. Wake died in a Veterans home in England on 7 August 2011. For those of you who read German, I understand German author Michael Jurgs wrote a biography of Wake called “Nancy Wake and her fight against the Gestapo in France”. It was published October 2012. Stephanie Daniels did a good job narrating the book and pronouncing all the French names. If you are interested in history and women in war you will enjoy this book.