A Woman of No Importance

A Woman of No Importance (2019) sheds light on the shadowy world of wartime espionage and the career of one of the Allies’ most effective spies in the battle against Nazi Germany – Virginia Hall. In these abstracts, we’ll follow Virginia from her Maryland home to the jazz clubs of interwar Paris and the warren-like streets of Lyon, the city in which she learned her trade. Along the way, you’ll discover how the “limping lady” dodged Gestapo agents, martialled the French resistance and revolutionized spycraft.

Sonia Purnell is a biographer and journalist. She has written for the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times. Her study of Winston Churchill’s wife Clementine, First Lady, was hailed as the “book of the year” by numerous newspapers and nominated for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography. Purnell is also the author of Just Boris, a biography of the current British prime minister, Boris Johnson.