Review: Education, Excitement, and Empowerment All in One
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2014
Historical fiction is a tricky genre. The author has to strike a balance between writing engaging characters that still feel genuine and capturing true-to-life moments as accurately possible without sounding too textbook. That is precisely what Jack DuArte has done with The White Mouse, and the product is a novel which is as exciting to read as it is educational.The story of Nancy Wake Fiocca is not one of the most well-known stories of the Second World War, but it is definitely one of the more interesting. Operating under the Special Operations Executive, she helped grounded British airmen escape Nazi-occupied territories in France. She also works with one of the more prominent French resistance movements, the Maquis. The maquisards, however, are not her only allies. The novel is populated with other astounding characters, some of them more fictional, who fight to aid the British SOE in their mission to free Europe from the Nazis.Nancy is a brilliant choice of main character from both the standpoint of both education and entertainment. Much of today’s youth has trouble picturing a woman during WWII doing anything other than nursing or manufacturing munitions. The more educated might picture the women who helped to decrypt German codes. Nancy, one of the Nazis’ most wanted, is more in the thick of things. This is suitable from an entertainment point of view as well given the growing predominance of female heroes ever since novels such as The Hunger Games and Divergent rose to fame.The White Mouse is a truly fascinating read. Many readers will find themselves constantly on the internet, checking to see what ‘s fact and what’s fiction. The results of their search will prove fruitful, as will DuArte’s ability to deliver a narrative which is as enticing as it is enlightening.