Code Name Hélène: A Novel

I have been desperate to find a book that I’ve loved and I finally found it in Code Name Helene. It has it all…strong female character, romance, espionage, history and it’s a true story. Amazing!

8 • ⭐️ It is 1936 and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper. Flash forward to the peak of WW2 and this once bright eyed journalist is now the most wanted woman to the Third Reich. Espionage. World War 2. Nazis. French revolutionaries. True story. I write this in absolute awe of a Nancy Wake and her story. World War 2 seems like a dream with the evils done by...read more

This is a powerful, thrilling and fascinating piece of historical fiction based on the life of Nancy Wake, a journalist-turned-female-spy who operated on the side of the Allies during World War II. I usually avoid novels and movies set during the World Wars because I find them upsetting, but this book focuses mostly on Nancy’s relationships, and her struggle as a woman in a male-dominated workplace and the war-time environment. She was a remarka...read more

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 of 5) One of the reasons I love historical fiction is due to the true-ish nature of the stories. I’m in awe of stories about real people who push boundaries and defy expectations through pure grit and determination. Nancy Wake is one such person. Nancy, although she goes by many names throughout the book, was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised expat journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the British SOE – Special ...read more