Reviews with content warning for War - The White Lady

Reviews tagging 'War'

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear

12 reviews

tfpjr492's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear is an action novel with the main character Elinor White, who has training and experience as a spy in the two world wars. A large part of the story details her experiences as a child spy in occupied Belgium during WWI and as a behind-the-lines operator inserted under cover of darkness into occupied Belgium during WWII. She has natural talents with firearms and foreign languages. She is trained to leverage normal fears into intensified awareness during high-pressure situations.

These experiences have prepared her for a new challenge in post-war Britain. She endeavors to adapt to a simple and slower lifestyle in rural Britain. She appears aloof and mysterious to her neighbors, but Elinor is keenly observant of their daily lives.

“And how did Elinor know all this? Because she made it her business to know. Just as she knew the butcher was fiddling the books and his customers, just as she knew Mrs. Butler at the tea shop in Shacklehurst was a receiver of black market goods.”

Elinor is drawn into the affairs of an organized crime family. In the course of her inquiries and investigation into the crime family, she learns new insights about her traumatic and mysterious past. This book is recommended for readers, who enjoy a spy tale combined with some episodes of an organized criminal enterprise.

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coryanderson_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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jennifer_pinkley's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book is about a young woman who is a teenager during the brutal German occupation of Belgium during WWI. It's a story about her life as she navigates the challenges of living under occupation and trying to survive that war. There are two other main settings, her experiences during WWII, then events two years after that war. The characters are complex and so well written, and the story is expertly woven between these three time periods. Because war is the focus of much of the story and the main character was so young during WWI, she experiences some awful things and suffers from PTSD, as do some of the other characters. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction.

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angelahenderson's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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jennasmith1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Obviously with a one star review, I disliked this book. Everyone else seemed to think it was great though. Maybe it was because I had strep or because I disliked WWII books or because historical fiction rates low among genres for me. Maybe it was all of the above. In general, it started out lovely but I quickly started losing the thread of the story over and over again. In the end, I just wanted to finish it for the sake of finishing it.

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jhbandcats's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have loved the Maisie Dobbs series and was happy to see there’s a new book by Winspear even if it isn’t Maisie.

I just finished reading the first three books of a poorly written trilogy by a different author - I should have quit after the first. So from the first page of The White Lady I was happy knowing I was in Winspear’s capable hands. Her writing is smooth and informative without being didactic, her characters are often endearing, and her plots are inevitably intriguing.

The sections on the Great War and WWII were especially strong, the postwar story not as much. The ending seemed very unlikely; there were other ways it could have gone which would have been more realistic within the context. That said, I’ll read anything Winspear writes - she’s that good.

So, I’d recommend this novel but with a caveat about the last few chapters.

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