Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Madame Fourcade's secret war : the daring young woman who led France's largest spy network against Hitler / Lynne Olson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2019]Edition: First editionDescription: xxiv, 428 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780812994766
  • 0812994760
Other title:
  • Daring young woman who led France's largest spy network against Hitler
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
1936-1942. Leaping into the unknown ; The chaos of defeat ; Fighting back ; Spying in Marseille ; The birth of Alliance ; Danger in Paris ; Taking command ; A network in peril ; The mailbag ; The return of Léon Faye ; A game of wits ; "An undisputed leader" ; "Sitting on a barrel of gunpowder" ; The traitor ; A general escapes ; Captured ; Operation Attila ; "Down go the U-boats" -- 1943-1944. On the run ; The tinderbox of Lyon ; High anxiety ; "Here you are at last!" ; "The most remarkable girl of her generation" ; Pink heather ; Calamity ; Captives ; The map ; Going home -- 1944-1945. Caught in the net ; Liberation and beyond ; "Hail Mary, full of grace" ; The road to Gethsemane.
Summary: "The little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II ... In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization--the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group's name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed it Noah's Ark because its agents used the names of animals as their aliases. The name Marie-Madeleine chose for herself was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance, that, as a colleague of hers put it, 'even a lion would hesitate to bite.' No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence--including providing American and British military commanders with a 55-foot-long map of the beaches and roads on which the Allies would land on D-Day--as Alliance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade's own lover and many of her key spies. Although Fourcade, the mother of two young children, moved her headquarters every few weeks, constantly changing her hair color, clothing, and identity, she was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape--once by slipping naked through the bars of her jail cell--and continued to hold her network together even as it repeatedly threatened to crumble around her. Now, in this dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself."--Dust jacket.Summary: In 1941 Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization. Her group's name was Alliance, and used the names of animals as their aliases. Fourcade was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents. Captured twice by the Nazis, she escaped and continued to hold her network together. Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 940.5486 O52 Available 33111009327301
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The little-known true story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II, from the bestselling author of Citizens of London and Last Hope Island

"Brava to Lynne Olson for a biography that should challenge any outdated assumptions about who deserves to be called a hero."-- The Washington Post

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND THE WASHINGTON POST

In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization--the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group's name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed it Noah's Ark because its agents used the names of animals as their aliases. The name Marie-Madeleine chose for herself was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance, that, as a colleague of hers put it, "even a lion would hesitate to bite."

No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence--including providing American and British military commanders with a 55-foot-long map of the beaches and roads on which the Allies would land on D-Day--as Alliance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade's own lover and many of her key spies. Although Fourcade, the mother of two young children, moved her headquarters every few weeks, constantly changing her hair color, clothing, and identity, she was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape--once by slipping naked through the bars of her jail cell--and continued to hold her network together even as it repeatedly threatened to crumble around her.

Now, in this dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself.

"Fast-paced and impressively researched . . . Olson writes with verve and a historian's authority. . . . With this gripping tale, Lynne Olson pays [Marie-Madeleine Fourcade] what history has so far denied her. France, slow to confront the stain of Vichy, would do well to finally honor a fighter most of us would want in our foxhole."-- The New York Times Book Review

Includes bibliographical references (pages [387]-405) and index.

"The little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the woman who headed the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II ... In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization--the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group's name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed it Noah's Ark because its agents used the names of animals as their aliases. The name Marie-Madeleine chose for herself was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance, that, as a colleague of hers put it, 'even a lion would hesitate to bite.' No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence--including providing American and British military commanders with a 55-foot-long map of the beaches and roads on which the Allies would land on D-Day--as Alliance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade's own lover and many of her key spies. Although Fourcade, the mother of two young children, moved her headquarters every few weeks, constantly changing her hair color, clothing, and identity, she was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape--once by slipping naked through the bars of her jail cell--and continued to hold her network together even as it repeatedly threatened to crumble around her. Now, in this dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself."--Dust jacket.

In 1941 Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization. Her group's name was Alliance, and used the names of animals as their aliases. Fourcade was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents. Captured twice by the Nazis, she escaped and continued to hold her network together. Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself. -- adapted from jacket

1936-1942. Leaping into the unknown ; The chaos of defeat ; Fighting back ; Spying in Marseille ; The birth of Alliance ; Danger in Paris ; Taking command ; A network in peril ; The mailbag ; The return of Léon Faye ; A game of wits ; "An undisputed leader" ; "Sitting on a barrel of gunpowder" ; The traitor ; A general escapes ; Captured ; Operation Attila ; "Down go the U-boats" -- 1943-1944. On the run ; The tinderbox of Lyon ; High anxiety ; "Here you are at last!" ; "The most remarkable girl of her generation" ; Pink heather ; Calamity ; Captives ; The map ; Going home -- 1944-1945. Caught in the net ; Liberation and beyond ; "Hail Mary, full of grace" ; The road to Gethsemane.

Powered by Koha