Carve her name with pride: the story of Violette Szabo

The thrilling and inspiring true story of Violette Szabo, the fearless British cloak-and-dagger agent who infiltrated Nazi occupied France. Switchboard operator and volunteer for the Women's Land Army, Violette Szabo was only twenty-two years old when her husband, Etienne, a captain in the French Foreign Legion, died at El Alamein. His death only made the resilient young widow more determined than ever to join England's war effort in World War II. To Violette's surprise, opportunity came at the request of Britain's Special Organization Executive. The purpose of the SOE was to conduct sabotage and espionage, and to aide local resistance movements in occupied Europe. Trained in secret in the Scottish Highlands, Violette became an expert in fieldcraft, covert navigation, and weapons and demolition. Then, on June 7, 1944, Szabo parachuted into Limoges. Her task was to coordinate the work of the French Resistance in the first days after D-Day. Violette Szabo was about to make history. "Violette's bravery and spirit shine throughout" this arresting true story of a heroic woman, undaunted by her missions, or the reality of the fate that would most likely await her in the closing years of war. R. J. Minney's stirring historical narrative was the basis for the classic 1959 film starring Virginia Mckenna and Paul Scofield ( Portland Book Review ).