Book Review of The Woman with No Name by Audrey Blake

[Disclosure: This review includes affiliate links. Purchases made through the link provide a small commission to us at no cost to you.]

(Click on the image above to purchase the book through Amazon)

book stats:

384 pages, to be published in March 2024 (I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

you may enjoy this book if you like:

World War II Novels * Spy/Espionage Novels * Strong Female Leads

travel inspiration:

The Woman with No Name is primarily set in Vichy France during World War II and secondarily takes place in war-time England.

about the author: audrey blake

Audrey Blake is the name under which two writers co-author books. This is the third novel co-written by Jaima Fixsen and Regina Sirois, who met as finalists in a writing contest and decided to write collaboratively. Their prior novels are The Surgeon’s Daughter (2022) and The Girl in His Shadow (2021).

review of The woman with no name by audrey blake

The Woman with No Name is an engaging, well-paced story that was hard to put down. Set in World War II, the novel follows the true story of Yvonne Rudellat’s heroic and brave efforts to undermine the Germans in Vichy France by joining the world of espionage. The novel starts pre-war with Yvonne’s estrangement from her husband. She has returned to her native France with her daughter, Jackie, and has found a new man with intentions to fully separate from her husband. In the fog of pre-wartime and an auto accident, Yvonne ends up back in England with her husband and daughter in a shared living arrangement that has ceased to be a marriage. Her world is rocked when a bomb destroys their building and sends their personal lives into upheaval. Through circumstances never known to Yvonne, she is sought out by the government for work she assumes will be secretarial in nature but turns out to be teeing her up for a crash-the-glass-ceiling moment as a woman in espionage.

After a grueling training program in England that she crushes except for swimming, which almost leads to her expulsion, Yvonne is sent to France via a questionable boat. She had wanted to parachute in but her age (mid 40s) and diminutive size meant that her higher ups wouldn’t clear her to parachute, imagining her to be too fragile. Once in France, Yvonne becomes her undercover personality. Her new identity provides her with a clunky first name: Clothilde, and she asks instead to be called Jacqueline, after her daughter.

Newly emerged, Jacqueline connects with her handler in Paris, a man who does not trust her, who is hesitant to take action, and who tries to sabotage her. Jacqueline has joined the war efforts with a single focus: to fight against the Germans. A risk-adverse handler is no match for her ambition. Jacqueline quickly establishes a trusted group of locals who have been working to undermine the Germans on their own, without training, and she quickly trains them in the use of explosives and other acts of terrorism, to keep the Germans on the defense. In one noteworthy scene – one of many based on the true actions of the real-life inspiration – Jacqueline is lowered via rope into the middle of a train tunnel to place explosives on the track. The reason for her daring entry is that both ends of the train tunnel were guarded by soldiers, who risked seeing her. Her timing is impeccable and hundreds of troops are killed in the resulting explosion and derailment.

Jacqueline has innate leadership qualities that quickly establish her role and garner respect from her co-conspirators. As a group, they are successful in getting under the skin of the local German leader, a fully fictionalized man named Max.

The heroism displayed by Yvonne, alias Jacqueline, in extraordinary circumstances is truly astounding, a story that absolutely deserves telling. And through all her efforts, she dealt with men either undercutting her or thinking she was limited as a woman. Woe to those who underestimate her.

In general, I am neutral at best toward espionage and spy stories; however, this novel really captured me long before I realized how much of it was based on historical fact. That made it all the more compelling. I would recommend this novel to others.

Click on the image below to save this post to Pinterest!