What can I say about this book that will do it justice? Code Name Helene is historical fiction at its finest and left me feeling enervated, awed, and a bit heartbroken.

This book tells the very real story of Nancy Wake, an Australian expatriate who was a military leader in the French Resistance during WWII. (Yes, it’s set in the Second World War, but really this story is so much bigger than that, so don’t let the setting deter you if you think you’ve read this story already. Trust me—you haven’t.)

I loved every part of her story: her time in the French Auvergne and more than that, her time with her husband. This book at its very heart a love story: love for a spouse, love for friends, love for a country. It’s perfection.

Nancy is the very embodiment of moxie, and she deserves to be known.

I love Ariel Lawhon’s works and was excited to get this one off Net Galley! What a story! This was a fascinating and fantastic, though at times heart-breaking, story of WWII Resistance. It was so incredible that I was sorry that it was not true — and then I found out that it was based on true events and a true person, which made it all the more fantastic!

If you enjoy WWII stories with intrigue, action, suspense, and love, this is one for you!


Thank you, Doubleday Books, for my ARC!

This book goes into the top Five Best Books for 2020! Masterfully crafted, characters with depth and the sounds of war making my heart race! Absolutely Lawhon's best!

Socialite spy Nancy Wake became one of the most decorated women in WWII. Courageous, outgoing, independent, and passionate, she attacked life with gusto, the same way she attacked spy training and the Germans, including the Nazi she killed with her bare hands.
Author Ariel Lawhon tells Nancy's story with interweaving timelines. The story moves between 1944, when Nancy fought with the French Marquis resistance, and 1936, when she worked in Paris as a journalist and later courted and married wealthy Henri Fiocca. Sometimes, this style can be confusing, and it did annoy me at first because I generally appreciate stories that progress according in chronological order. For example, Nancy refuses to allow the resistance soldiers to watch her pee, and she's very adamant about it. Later, we learn why she felt so strongly about this rule. In the end, I came to appreciate this technique because it built suspense and encouraged me to just relax, enjoy the book and let the story unfold.
"Code Name Helene" is organized based on Nancy's four names. As LUCIENNE CARLIER, she smuggles people and documents across borders. Her remarkable ability to evade capture earns her the nickname of THE WHITE MOUSE. With a bounty of five million francs on her head, she must escape Paris and leave her beloved Henri and her dog Picon behind. After escaping France, Nancy joins the Special Operations Executives and transforms into HELENE. Mission in hand, Nancy is airdropped back into France as the deadly MADAM ANDREÉ, and she becomes one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, known for her ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick or armor, and her resourcefulness, courage and resiliency.
After reading "Code Name Helene," I want to research more about Nancy Wake. She and I are very different personalty-wise, but her story made me realize that we all have strengths to do the job at hand, whether we're parenting, preaching, or soldiering.
Note: this book contains war violence, sexual content and profanity - most of which make are necessary to bring the real Nancy Wake to life.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I never heard of Nancy Wake before picking up this book. I liked the alternating time lines that slowly meshed together at the end in real time. Nancy felt very real. Great story.

I approached this novel with some reluctance. Its title is simplistic and the written description does not begin to hint at what a wonderful complex novel it is. It has all the elements necessary for a great read: an engaging plot, an engaging main character - or rather main characters as the book is in large part about a marriage - supported by a cast of unforgettable characters, and, most important of all, wonderful writing. Ariel Lawhon can tell a story, develop her characters, and most notably write descriptively in prose that at times reads like poetry. Some readers will be put off by the ever-changing times and places of the settings. The story is not told in a linear way, which I think enhances it. However, not everyone will agree. Because Code Name Helene is based on the life of a real person, Nancy Wake, Lawhon could not alter anything but a few details of this story of a gutsy female leader. Few other authors could have made as much of her story as did Lawhon.I wish I had known this four-named character, and finishing the book with that wish is to me the mark of an excellent historical novel.

If you are looking for historical and biographical fiction, you'll love March 2020 new book release, Code Name Helene.

Meet a woman leader in the French Resistance who killed a Nazi soldier, jumped out of planes, and still managed to put on her lipstick.

Find a steamy love story, as well, in this well-written and thrilling WW2 novel.

Find my complete and detailed review on The Uncorked Librarian here: https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/march-2020-book-releases/

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.* 

Wow! This is such an amazing book! I went into Code Name Helene, honestly, just expecting another typical WWII historical fiction novel. This was totally fine with me because I love historical fiction. What I got was an absolutely amazing heroine who, bonus, was a real-life lady who was (pardon my French) a complete and total bada**! Nancy Wake is my newest role model, and I am never turning back! 

Seriously, how in the world have I never heard of this woman?? She was an Australian immigrant who decided to join the French resistance when her French husband was called to the front. Even after he returned home, she kept smuggling Jews out of the occupied territories. She escaped when the Gestapo started to try to come after her. Then, she went back into France to work with the French resistance for a second time, with more than 7,000 men under her command. I mean, you can't make up a woman who is more amazing, and she actually existed!! 

Okay, now that I am done fan-girling about Nancy Wake, let me talk about Lawhon's writing style. She really likes to use interesting timelines. In her novel I Was Anastasia, she wrote in two different timelines: one went forward in typical fashion, the other started at the end of the story and worked its way backwards, so that the two storylines met at the end of the novel. It was a bit confusing, but very intriguing. Code Name Helene has two timelines, both moving forward in time. You get Nancy from the beginning of the war and see her evolution into the woman she is in the second timeline, which begins after she goes back to France to lead the army of resistance fighters. It was so much fun to discover things as the story progressed that were talked about in the other timeline. It was such intricate storytelling, and I am now really jazzed to pick up more of Lawhon's books. 

When you can't stop thinking about a book and want to shout it's praises from the rooftops, you know you have a great read! I cannot wait for the world to get their hands on this book. Nancy Wake deserves to have her story heard! 




My Rating:

I gave Code Name Helene 5 STARS! This is a fantastic book for anyone who loves WWII history, as well as learning about amazing women in history. 

(I will come back on 3/30 to add my link to my blog review)

Code Name Helene is the most recent addition to World War II books that focus on the important work of women in the war effort. Not only is Code Name Helene a delightful peak into the French resistance, but it is based on the true story of "la souris blanche." I won't go into this true story much as I don't want to spoil the plot but know that author Ariel Lawhon did her research!

Code Name Helene tells the exciting story of Nancy Wake from her first interactions with Nazis in the mid-1903s to her first innocent involvement in the Reistance to becoming a full-fledged British SOE working with the French Resistance and helping to end the war. Nancy, who goes by several different code names throughout the book, is a truly enjoyable and likeable character. She has definite flaws but is also a "girl next door" type who does whatever it takes to get the job done. Lawhon does a wonderful job of creating several contrasting characters who act as foils to Nancy. Lawhon also employs flashbacks to gradually unfold the back story of how Nancy became part of the Resistance and what happens to her beloved husband while simultaneously telling the story of her work with the French Resistance during the last year of World War II.

There is so much to enjoy about this book! As it is set in the middle of the war and in France, there is certainly a good deal of cursing (Merdre!) and drinking, but it's war. Reading about the deprivations and hardships of Resistance fighters and everyday people during the war made our minor quarantine issues seem minute in comparison. Code Name Helene definitely deserves to be added to your to read pile.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Code Name Helene from Doubleday via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

I had been hearing about Code Name Helene for a while, so when I saw I had the option to request it on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed in the book-until it was over.
The book alternates in time, telling the story of several years of the life of Nancy Wake, an Australian journalist turned French citizen and Nazi fighter. I was entranced by her story-both in how she fell for her French husband and how she commanded the men in her military world. The end was bittersweet-as many books regarding a world war are-but, from research I have completed, it was true to the real life events that Nancy experienced. Read it. You will not be disappointed.

Dear Fellow Readers,

I must admit a bit of fatigue with historical fiction centering around World War II. I am sure that is unfair to the genre, but I felt like I had read more than my fill.

And then I read a description of a book based on a real person. It intrigued me so I decided to read yet another one.

Code Name HeleneCode Name Helene is the story of Nancy Wake. Nancy Wake was an Australian who moved to Paris. She was in her early 20s and working as a journalist for the American Hearst newspaper chain. As a woman, she could not get a byline and her stories were never treated the same as the men she worked with. That did not stop her from trying. At the beginning of the book, she and her photographer witness a scene that affects Nancy. On a tip, they go to a town in Germany. When they get there, they see that a Hitler Brownshirt has a Jewish woman tied to a waterwheel. He starts whipping her and threatens to take the whip to anyone who tries to help her. Over the silence of the crowd, the camera’s click catches the attention of the Brownshirts. They take the camera and destroy it. Nancy brought the story back and her editor tried to kill it because he said it wasn’t believable without the pictures. It was finally published but not with Nancy’s name. The incident served to awaken her to the cruelty of Hitler and her desire to fight against him.

Nancy starts by smuggling traveling papers and people across the border to evade the Gestapo. When France is invaded, she and her husband, Henri, know they must leave. They also know that they must be surreptitious and decide to leave separately and meet later.

The book opens on February 29, 1944, with Helene jumping out of a plane into France. The second chapter takes place in 1936 with Nancy meeting a friend in a bar in Paris. It is one of those books that go back and forth in time. One chapter will be what is happening during the war and the next will tell Nancy’s background. I did not have any trouble following where we were in the story.

The tale not only tells us of Nancy Wake’s heroism but also her humanity. From bracing herself with her red lipstick to her silk nightgowns, she is a woman in battle but also a woman. She doesn’t want to live without a few of her feminine accouterments. I did not find that her personal affectations affected my view of her. I found them to make her more real.

I enjoyed the book. It is well worth reading. I was given a copy of the book so that I could give a fair review. The book will be published on March 31, 2020.

Thanks for reading.

Outstanding! Ariel Lawhon writes a story that makes love to read historical fiction. Lawhon masterfully weaves together all the elements of a great story with the real-life experiences of an expat Australian turned heroine during WWII. As an expat living a life in Paris. Nancy Wake finds her fairy-tale life turned upside down when the Nazis invade the city. What does a woman married to one of the wealthiest men in Paris do? She becomes a thorn in the German’s side. Despite a bounty on her head, Nancy becomes more than she ever expected or imagined to help those who need it and provide relief to those suffering. She goes by different code names and that is just a small part of the story..
Exciting, riveting and amazing. You will want to have your own copy soon!

This is my fourth Lawhon book and I was eager to dig in as she is one of my favorite authors. Based on a real-life story of socialite spy Nancy Wake, a woman who ran counterintelligence missions, the story did not disappoint. It is thrilling from beginning to end. Lawhon has built strong characters/relationships and weaves in World War II historical moments. The love story between Nancy and Henri is an exceptionally enchanting one.

Nancy Wake is a natural-born leader, strong, independent and clearly a force to be reckoned with. When she puts on that blood-red lipstick coat of armor, you can almost see her transform into a Teflon-proof leader ready to face fears and kick some butt.

Lawhon has a knack for finding fascinating women to spin a tale around. As with her prior books, I left this story compelled to explore more about Nancy Wake and gain more insight into how Lawhon landed upon this remarkable woman.

Will post in online venues closer to publication and add link below

Nancy Augusta Wake was a force. She was passionate in her love for her dear husband, Henri, and her determination to defeat the Nazis. Lawhon describes her as a"bold, bawdy, and brazen woman." You cannot help but fall in love with her despite her drinking and swearing habits. She killed a Nazi with her bare hands! The book begins with dual timelines: 1944 when Nancy is dropped on a field in France to support the Maquis; and in 1939 when she witnesses the atrocities of the Nazis firsthand in the square in Vienna. This is an incredible story and Lawhon has taken the time to do her research giving us much more fact than fiction. If you love an epic love story set against the backdrop of WW II, this book is for you. If you love to see a woman rise to the occasion and lead men out in the midst of war, this book is for you. "I Was Anastasia" was a very good read, but this new book from Lawhon is phenomenal.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing. When we imagine the status of women in society during this time period and what she was able to accomplish fighting communism it's unbelievable. I understand why the author couldn't get this story out of her mind. Nancy (Helene) fought insurmountable odds for what she believed in. I would highly recommend this book.

Lawhon is my go-to for historical fiction as of late. I absolutely love her writing style, and since I was a fan of I Was Anastasia, I requested this because I was a fan and it did not disappoint.

Ariel Lawhon brings to life the story of Nancy Wake, a nurse, journalist, wife, activist, and spy. At a time when most women supported the war effort quietly at home, Nancy's work was dangerous, undercover, in the middle of all the action, and far from her beloved husband. Readers will be inspired by this story of how an ordinary wife took extraordinary action to fight for what was right.

I received an advanced reading copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. I had high hopes for this book and I so wanted to love it, but I found it a bit disappointing. The story is a fictional version of the highly decorated Nancy Wake who valiantly fought with the French Resistance during World War II. The author toggles back and forth between years and it was confusing. It would have been better if she had laid the action out in a linear fashion as it happened. I also had a hard time liking Nancy. She had to be tough to do what she did, which was remarkable, but she also seemed very hardened and cold. Some of the action was disturbingly gruesome. Nancy was a New Zealand-born girl who ended up in France. She married a wealthy French businessman who supported her resistance work to the bitter end. I was originally going to give this book a three-star rating, but it definitely improved during the last 50 pages so I upped it to four-star. If you do decide to read this book, stick with it as it does get better.

Wow, what an incredible story! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this ARC. I can’t recommend it enough!

Another 5 star read from this amazing author! I love reading historical fiction based on actual events and people. This is the story of Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, a female operative in the French resistance during WWII. She was a remarkable woman; a force to be reckoned with. I was captivated by Lawhon's interpretation of her story from page 1. Wake started as a reporter (with no experience - she bluffed her way into the job!) but ended up acting as a secret agent who became one of the leaders of the French Resistance.

The book begins with the end of the story and then jumps back and forth among different time periods. I'm not gonna lie; it was challenging because I read this on Kindle, but I didn't mind because the story is spellbinding. It is intense, yet heartbreaking. Yes, she was a bad-ass who wasn't afraid of standing up to anything or anyone (even a horrific Nazi, who she killed with her bare hands!) but she also found the love of her life at the worst time in history, only to be forced to separate from him for safety. As you're cheering her on while she stands up to the worst of the worst, you are also sharing in her pain of missing her husband. It's a rare glimpse into the inner feelings behind heroism. I like what Lawhon says in the author's notes at the end of the book.

“This is a novel about marriage. Yes, of course, it’s also about war and friendship and bravery and tragedy and one of the most important conflicts of the 20th century . . . But to me, at its heart, this is a novel about a woman and her husband and the sacrifices made by both in the midst of extraordinary circumstances.”

HIGHLY RECOMMEND.