Review: For me, somewhat unreal historical fiction.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 26, 2014
The White Mouse was a code name given to Nancy Wake Fiocca who was involved through the British Special Operations Executive in supporting the French Maquis. However, the book is not really about Nancy, but rather about SOE efforts in the Auvergne, where Nancy played (in this book) primarily the role of quartermaster. The major characters in this book all existed, and all did something similarly to what is described, however the author states this is a work of fiction, and the actual events portrayed in the book are fictional. Since I do not know what is true and what is not, I assume it is all not true, other than the general situations. For those interested, Nancy Wake apparently published an autobiography, which I have not read. On the plus side, it honours the people who were involved with the SOE, and gives quite a reasonable overview of the support given to the Maquis.I had trouble with it as a pure work of fiction. The various characters are unlikely to represent the real people, they were not drawn particularly well, and I found many of the situations not very convincingly told. Part of my problem was that the whole thing reads a bit like a propaganda story from something like Boy's Own. Everybody is so gung ho to get at the Germans, nobody shows any real emotion like fear (and don't tell me nobody gave a thought to German capture). Oddly enough, most of the action is actually omitted or treated very lightly. There are one or two incidents where the Maquis set out to do damage and where we get a description of what happened (at least fictionally), but going by what is presented here the resistance would be at best a minor irritant to the Germans, and also a source of exercise for the troops when they attacked concentrations of the Maquis. In short much of what really happened is almost certainly not presented. I also found the conversations somewhat stilted, probably as an effort to make the conversation that of the time. One example: "I am always able to escape their nasty clutches." Those sort of people almost certainly do not talk like that, and other similar conversational examples. I found the editing relating to punctuation, particularly quotation marks, annoying. The presentation of the Germans was also not particularly credible at times. When an NCO deliberately violates a direct order from an SS Lieutenant Colonel, I find it hard to believe he walks out of the room with the officer shaking his head. As a minor correction, an SS Sturmbannführer is the equivalent of a major, not a colonel.Overall, it is an interesting book, it gives some idea of what happened through the SOE and the Maquis, but I would have preferred it if it had not been fictional. A docudrama, yes, but I would have preferred the general facts to be real.