<b><b>A <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER<br /><br /></b>Chosen as a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by <i>NPR</i>, the New York Public Library, Amazon, the <i>Seattle Times</i>, the <i>Washington Independent Review of Books</i>, <i>PopSugar</i>, the <i>Minneapolis Star Tribune</i>, BookBrowse, the <i>Spectator</i>, and the <i>Times of London</i><br /><br /><b>Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best Biography<br /></b><br />“E<b>xcellent…This book is as riveting as any thriller, and as hard to put down</b>.” -- <i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br /><br />"A compelling biography of a masterful spy, and a reminder of what can be done with a few brave people -- and a little resistance." - <b>NPR<br /><br /><b>"A meticiulous history that reads like a thriller."<b> - </b>Ben Macintyre</b></b><br /><br /><b>A never-before-told story of Virginia Hall, the American spy who changed the course of World War II, from the author of <i>Clementine.</i></b></b><br /><br />In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." <br /><br />The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill&apos;s "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and--despite her prosthetic leg--helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it. <br /><br />Virginia established vast spy networks throughout France, called weapons and explosives down from the skies, and became a linchpin for the Resistance. Even as her face covered wanted posters and a bounty was placed on her head, Virginia refused order after order to evacuate. She finally escaped through a death-defying hike over the Pyrenees into Spain, her cover blown. But she plunged back in, adamant that she had more lives to save, and led a victorious guerilla campaign, liberating swathes of France from the Nazis after D-Day.<br /><br />Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall--an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. <i>A Woman of No Importance</i> is the breathtaking story of how one woman&apos;s fierce persistence helped win the war.