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alscho's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
A little hard to follow all of the women profiled as an audiobook, but their stories are incredible, well reseached and well told
emac021's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Torture, and War
Minor: Stalking
stacyroth's review
4.0
Mission France tells the true story of all 39 women who served in SOE's F section during World War II. These women's bravery is awe-inspiring, willingly going into Nazi-occupied France to spy for the British government. Kate Vigurs did an excellent job of pulling together all available information about the women's missions and what happened to them, including a little note of life post World War II for those who survived. Kate Vigurs did an excellent job with the narration of the audiobook. My only complaint about the book would be that it is hard to keep all 39 women straight, but there is really no way to avoid that when you are making sure to include everyone's story.
Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.
Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.
bookedbymadeline's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Thank you to Netgalley for the audio ARC!
Mission France tells the stories of brave women from WWII who joined SOE (Special Operations Executive). I was first intrigued by this piece of history after reading some fictional accounts of female spies in SOE and assigned to Paris. I felt like I learned quite a lot from this book, especially as someone who is American and didn’t learn about these women or SOE in my school’s history class.
Kate Vigurs lays out the stories of each woman through both their everyday tasks and their involvement in bigger plans like D-Day. By doing so, Vigurs did a great job of giving a full picture of the women and what their job entailed. These women were extraordinary and I’m in awe of them! It’s an important piece of WWII history that is overlooked but should be talked about more. It’s a great overview of women in SOE through the war, and I want to look further into some of the individual women!
It was difficult to listen to at times as there’s so much info I found myself distracted and zoning out at times. I think I may have enjoyed it more in a physical format, and been able to pay attention more easily. An informative, interesting read for anyone who enjoys espionage, WWII history, and women in history. Also if, like me, you enjoyed fictional books on this topic (ie The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff) then you may enjoy this background history!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Torture, War, and Death
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism
Minor: Blood
definitelynotreading's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.75
A wonderfully written book and a well read audiobook. This is not a subject I knew anything about before picking up. Kate Vigurs beautifully tells the stories of amazingly brave women from WWII who, despite claims in the book that a few became household names, I had never heard of previously (potentially because the focus was a contingent of British agents and I'm American). The book relates both the everyday and extraordinary tasks undertaken by these women and the agency that employed them. It also did not shy away from their faults or hide their missteps. I was blown away by both the bravery displayed and the circumstances faced by these women. I studied the war in school like most do, but there were descriptions that really demonstrated to me for the first time what the reality of the occupation was like. I don't typically read non-fiction, but this was compelling and informative. Anyone with interest in WWII or the history of women in espionage roles should read it.
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