The Mysterious Virginia Hall

How did a young lady from a wealthy family in Maryland end up as the Gestapo's most wanted spy? This YA biography of Virginia Hall, World War II's most successful female spy, will inspire reluctant readers and budding history buffs alike.

Virginia Hall, known to her family as "Dindy," was an athletic, outdoorsy girl who dreamed of joining the foreign service and becoming an ambassador. Despite numerous setbacks, including losing her leg to gangrene after an accident, Virginia never wavered in her determination to serve her country. After the outbreak of World War II, a chance meeting on a train changed her life-George Bellows, an agent of the British Special Operations Executive, recruited her as one of its first women agents. Working for Allied intelligence services in France, Virginia Hall organized French resistance fighters, performed daring rescues, and provided the Allies with intelligence that was key for ousting the Nazis and earned her numerous medals, including the US Army's Distinguished Service Cross.

With chapters titled for each of the many aliases and nicknames used by Virginia Hall, this book takes readers through her extraordinary life and her evolution as a resistance fighter and intelligence operative. Award-winning author Claudia Friddell brings Virginia Hall's bravery, intelligence, and determination to life in this thoroughly researched and photo-filled biography endorsed by Hall's family. Claudia Friddell is the author of several children's books, including Cool off and Ride: A Trolley Trip to Beat the Heat; Road Trip: Camping With the Four Vagabonds: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs; To the Front!: Clara Barton Braves the Battle of Antietam; and Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls Answer the Call: The Heroic Story of WWI Telephone Operators. She has been a therapist, a school counselor, and an elementary school teacher. DINDY

Virginia Hall

might have been the name

on her birth certificate,

but thanks to a nickname

from her brother, John,

Dindy was the name that stuck.

Most young girls

of Baltimore society a century ago

were expected to follow

in their mothers' ladylike footsteps-

but Dindy made

a path of her own.

 

Never one to mind

getting her hands dirty,

her feet wet,

or her body bruised,

Dindy was happiest

riding horses and hunting

with her father and brother

at Boxhorn Farm-

the Halls' country estate

outside Baltimore.

When Dindy's father, Ned,

wasn't leading the way

in outdoor adventures

on the family farm,

he was busy providing

indoor adventures

at his movie theaters-

magical places

where reels of film

brought the outside world

to Baltimore.

 

For generations

the Halls had been

fascinated by cultures

vastly different and worlds away

from Maryland shores.

At the age of nine,

Dindy's grandfather stowed away

on his sea captain father's clipper ship,

and later captained a ship of his own

that brought Asian goods to America.

While many of their friends

crossed the Chesapeake Bay

for seaside vacations,

Dindy's family

crossed the Atlantic Ocean

for European adventures.

From her very first

transatlantic voyage

at the age of four,

Dindy stowed away

a love for Europe.

 

When Dindy wasn't chasing

after her brother

at Boxhorn Farm,

or exploring foreign countries

with her family,

she was blazing

her own unique trail

at Roland Park Country School-

an all-girls school in Baltimore.

Never once

in twelve years at RPCS

did she hear-

You can't do that, you're a girl!

Because, unlike in the outside world,

every club and team

at Dindy's school

was not only made up of girls-

they were all led by girls.

Nicknamed the Fighting Blade

by her ninth-grade classmates,

Dindy was a natural leader

in sports, student government,

and school activities.

She was often

her own harshest