Review: `She could kill Nazis with her bare hands'
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 5, 2014
New Orleans native author Jack DuArte attended the University of Kentucky, graduated from the University of Evansville, and served as an Air Force officer in Vietnam, receiving the Bronze Star. He now is very active in the literary world, authoring many books concerning World War II as well as participating in the International Book Project's Passport to Literacy in Lexington, KY, the Kentucky Book Fair, the Western Kentucky Book Fair and the International Mystery Writers Festival. He has also combined the business of owning several Napa Valley wineries with his passion for owning and breeding thoroughbreds. As one would expect from a man so occupied with historical fiction concerning WW II, his courage in writing this latest novel THE WHITE MOUSE about the life and times of Nancy Wake, `notorious for disliking people messing around with her life', would be a thrilling adventure. It is just that.A bit of info about the main character: New-Zealand born Australian Nancy Grace Augusta Wake AC, GM (1912 - 2011) served as a British agent during the later part of World War II. She became a leading figure in the maquis groups of the French Resistance and was one of the Allies' most decorated servicewomen of the war. After the fall of France in 1940, she became a courier for the French Resistance and later joined the escape network of Captain Ian Garrow. By 1943, Wake was the Gestapo's most wanted person, with a 5 million-franc price on her head. After reaching Britain, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive. On the night of 29/30 April 1944, Wake was parachuted into the Auvergne, becoming a liaison between London and the local maquis group headed by Captain Henri Tardivat in the Forest of Tronais. From April 1944 until the liberation of France, her 7,000+ maquisards fought 22,000 SS soldiers, causing 1,400 casualties, while suffering only 100 themselves.' Wake published her autobiography in 1985: DuArte places that life into finely embroidered fiction and in doing so has created one of the stronger novels about WW II, very much in line with his other honored books in this series.DuAtre's THE WHITE MOUSE is historical fiction based on the real life of Nancy Wake in World War II. Wake was responsible for setting up a successful escape network around Marseille, France at the beginning of the war. She fled France and began working for Great Britain's Special Operations Executive during the invasion of Normandy. Aided by an American Army captain on loan to the SOE, the White Mouse finally arranges the escape of a number of Maquis prisoners during a pitched battle. The White Mouse reunited US Army Captain Brian Russell with his French Resistance love. Wake fought so well, she ended up on top of the Gestapo's wanted list, saved thousands of Allied lives, played a crucial role in D-Day and received France's highest military honor. How DuArte weaves these facts with his created fictional characters and embellished situations makes for one of the best of the novels about World War II and the French to date. The book will entice the reader to go back to DuArte's previous novels to flesh out his inimitable manner of relating war tales. Grady Harp, May 14