"Code Name Helene" by Ariel Lawhon

"Code Name Helene" by Ariel Lawhon is the September choice for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club. Like our August pick, "Swing Time" (450-ish pages) -- which took me an entire month to slog through! -- "Code Name Helene" (I keep wanting to type "Code Name Ariel" for some reason??) was another long one -- the paperback was a hefty 570 pages of closed spaced, small-ish type. 

Fortunately, I had also purchased a cheap e-book version, where I could magnify the print to a more comfortable size! Also fortunately, "Code Name Helene" was a faster-paced and more captivating read (which got faster and more captivating as the book went on...!) -- and all the more interesting because, amazingly, it's a true story (!).  

The book moves back & forth in time and place, from pre-WWII Paris and Marseille to the French countryside in 1944, telling the story of how and why Nancy Wake, an Australian freelance journalist turned British Special Operations Executive (SOE) operative, parachuted into Nazi-occupied France to aid the resistance movement -- and seek a reunion with her French husband, Henri Fiocca. (And I think I'll stop there, because I don't want to give away too much!)  ALI note:  She did not have any children. 

My book club co-host (who is British) described "Code Name Helene" on Goodreads as "an absolutely cracking book!!!!"  I agree!  :)  I love WWII stories, especially ones focused on women, so this was right up my alley. The fact that Nancy was a real person is the icing on the cake! 

I'll admit I had to put the book down and take a break, every now & then -- despite my desire to find out what happened next! -- because some sections were pretty tense/intense! (But still, really good!)  What a movie/mini-series this book would make! 

(After I typed that, I Googled "Code Name Helene movie." What do you know? -- There is a mini-series in the works! -- or was?  Most of the stories I found about it were from 2020, and  announced that Elizabeth Debicki would play Nancy. Nothing since then. I imagine the pandemic may have delayed -- or derailed -- whatever was planned. :(   Further Googling revealed that there was, in fact, an earlier mini-series about Wake -- produced in Australia in 1987!)    

Content warning: A couple of graphic descriptions of torture (or perhaps more accurately, its aftermath) -- including that of a pregnant woman. :(   

5 stars on Goodreads & StoryGraph. 

Our next book (for October): "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I read this book back in 2008 (!) for Mel's Barren Bitches Book Tour, and reviewed it/answered some discussion questions here. I wasn't on Goodreads then (did it even exist in 2008?), but I later added a rating for the book of 4 stars. It will be interesting to see what I think of it, 16 (??!!-- WTF??!) years later!  

This was Book #24 read to date in 2024 (and Book #2 finished in August), bringing me to 53%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."