1. Art techniques
2. Biography
3. Book design
4. Bravery
5. Courage
6. Danger
7. Historical fiction
8. History
9. Prisoners of war
10. Soldiers
11. War
12. WW2

Much has been written about Nancy Wake. She was nicknamed ‘The White Mouse’ by the German Gestapo whom she managed to outwit on numerous occasions. Her contribution to the Underground Movement and the Secret Service in France during the war earned her many medals, and she became the most decorated woman during WW2.

Nancy travelled to London in the early 1930s where she managed to wrangle herself a job as the European correspondent for an American news organisation and so in 1934, aged twenty, Nancy arrived in Paris ‘the city of her dreams’. Able now to travel for her work, she sees first-hand the growing spread and threat of Nazism in Europe. In Berlin she saw the mesmerising power Hitler had on the German people and vowed to herself ‘that if ever I got the chance, I would do everything in my power to hurt them, to damage the Nazis and everything they stood for.’

Nancy lives up to her vow first, by following her new husband Henri who, at the outbreak of war is mobilised into the French army. Nancy outfits a truck as an ambulance and drives to Northern France where she helps to treat the wounded. Forced back to Marseille Nancy finds other ways to fight, she joins the French Resistance. She becomes a valuable member of a complex network helping fugitives escape over the Pyrenees to Spain and freedom. She is captured but manages to escape to London.

There, Nancy is frustrated that she is doing nothing to hasten the war’s end and manages to talk her way into the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This group is parachuted behind the lines to sabotage enemy operations, sometimes alone, but often working with the Resistance fighters. When the war finally ended Nancy had played a significant role in the Resistance movement in France earning herself a true hero’s status. Tragically on her return to Marseille she learns that her beloved husband Henri has died, at the hands of the Gestapo refusing to betray Nancy or her network.

The book’s layout and illustrations add greatly to the story. Torn yellowed pages from a notebook carry the text and seemed tossed hastily onto the page giving a sense of urgency to the story. The illustrations are in pen and ink and muted wash tones in keeping with the wartime era and include sepia toned photographic style illustrations and maps. The endpapers carry maps of wartime France and include details of Nancy’s famous 500km bicycle ride.

Nancy Wake was a true war hero, and this book is an excellent introduction to her life and often lesser-known aspects of wartime history.

1. Scholastic Australia. Teachers’ notes by Rae Carlyle for ‘The White Mouse: The Story of Nancy Wake’ by Peter Gouldthorpe https://resource.scholastic.com.au/resourcefiles/8383093_40685.pdf
2. Kids’ Book Review 19 October 2015. Anastasia reviews ‘The White Mouse: The Story of Nancy Wake’ by Peter Gouldthorpe http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2015/10/review-white-mouse-story-of-nancy-wake.html
3. Reading Time 28 September 2015. Elspeth Cameron reviews ‘The White Mouse: The Story of Nancy Wake’ by Peter Gouldthorpe http://readingtime.com.au/the-white-mouse-the-story-of-nancy-wake/
4. Australian War Memorial ‘Nancy Grace Augusta Wake’ https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P332
5. The Guardian 9 August 2011. Kim Willsher ‘Farewell to Nancy Wake, the mouse who ran rings around the Nazis’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/08/nancy-wake-white-mouse-gestapo