Agent Most Wanted by Sonia Purnell

Virginia Hall, one of history’s most effective spies, is the subject of this engrossing biography.

Agent Most Wanted: The Never-before-Told Story of the Most Dangerous Spy of World War II by Sonia Purnell. Viking, 2022, 188 pages plus notes, index, and bibliography.

Reading Level: Teen, ages 12-15

Recommended for: ages 12-18

Virginia Hall knew her own mind from an early age. Unlike most Baltimore belles, she didn’t go in for fancy dresses and finishing school. Her father encouraged her independent spirit, allowing her to study abroad and eventually seek a diplomatic career. The early death of her father and the reluctance of the state department to appoint female diplomats didn’t curb her determination, and she secured secretarial positions in Warsaw, then Turkey. Thus she had a front-row seat to the ugly tide of fascism rising in Europe during the 1920s. She feared especially for France, her “second country,” and in 1940 her fears were realized with the Nazi takeover of the French government. But rather than return to the safety of neutral United States, Virginia moved into the heart of danger, to Lyon, where she established contact with the French Resistance and British intelligence.

The ”never-before-told” story was extensively told in A Woman of No Importance, a best-seller of the last decade. Agent Most Wanted is the young-reader edition of Virginia’s story by the same author. It moves through her amazing career as a courier, coordinator, saboteur, and eventually commander of French resistance forces. Like most of history, it’s not an account of unbroken success: danger and heartbreak alternated with frustration over incompetent superiors and glory-hounds on her own side. The large cast of British agents and French spies, with code names, can be a bit confusing—photo illustrations help, but I would have appreciated a reference list. The main character comes through clearly, though, with her prickly personality, courage, and self-sacrifice. She had faults and made mistakes, but sought no glory for herself (one reason why her story only came to light recently). WWII enthusiasts will eat this one up.

Considerations:

• One of Virginia’s most important contacts in Lyon was Germaine Guérin, who ran a brothel popular among German soldiers. The intelligence advantages are obvious, but there it is.
• Late in the war, Virginia fell in love with Paul Goillot, one of her resistance fighters. The two wanted to marry, but Virginia’s mother was dead-set against it. So no marriage, but Virginia and Paul lived together for 38 years until she died.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.75
• Artistic/literary value: 4.25

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: The Lady is a Spy is another young-reader biography of Virginia Hall, though not as engaging. Village of Scoundrels is a fictionalized version of the mountain village of LaChambon, renowned for harboring Jews and resistance fighters, where Virginia made some important connections.
• Review: In Rescue, a 12-year-old girl enlists in the French resistance to help rescue her father.  

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