Elinor de Witt is a young girl from a privileged home in Belgium when World War I begins. Her father is a diamond dealer. He decides to stay and fight in any way he can and urges his wife and two daughters who are English citizens to escape. Unfortunately the ladies can not find transportations to England and are trapped in Belgium. Suffering from hunger and harsh treatment by the German occupation, the ladies are approached to gather information. Young Elinor is much to young for this kind of work but she rises to the challenge and proves to be quite good at it. After the war she has a hard time adjusting to a peaceful life of a teenager in England reconciling her war work with being a girl. Her sister has a hard time moving on in a different way.

We also meet Elinor in 1947 after serving in the Second World War and having an even harder time acclimating to peacetime. A young girl catches her eye in the small village that Elinor has settled in. Elinor does her best to keep her distance for reasons we are told in flashbacks. Moving from WWI to WWII to Elinor’s present time in 1947, we see the events that have shaped her. The reasons she can’t move on and why she is emotionally closed off from people. Can her intervention in the life of the Mackie family help Elinor finally open up and begin to heal?

This stand alone novel from Jacqueline Winspear has crafted a brilliant homage to a generation of women who sacrificed everything to win two wars. The strength and resilience needed boggles the mind mind

Introduces the reclusive Elinor White. A trained killer and spy, she fought in both World Wars, and now rests on her laurels in a grace and favour property in Shacklehurst, Kent.

Hoping this is first in a new series!

Stand alone book by Jacqueline Winspear. I love her Maisie Dobbs books. Overall I really enjoyed it. Unsure if i liked the end.

If Jacqueline Winspear intends to use Miss White, the protagonist in the White Lady as the start of a new series she has a hit on her hand. The mysterious Miss White, who takes up residence in Kent has set out to protect a young family with a charming daughter from being forced back into the husband's criminal family. Who is Miss White? And how is she equipped to go against the crime bosses in London. How is she known to the police force in London? The answers to these questions are what make this an intriguing read. Fans of Maisie Cobbs will surely love this book!

Elinor White is a quiet lady, living in a country house, and keeping to herself until she gets involved with a nearby family trying to escape their violent family. As the story unfolds we find that Elinor has quite a background and has served King and Country through two world wars. Elinor, like the author's other character, Maisie Dobbs, is strong and smart. She is resourceful and very likable. This is a very well-crafted story filled with vivid descriptions and well developed characters. The themes include the horrors and losses of war and the continuing need for redemption.

I read 3/4 of this and found it to be just as I expected, which is lovely. It's not my cup of tea, though. I know that her readers will enjoy it!

From The Historical Novels Review, May 2023:

Winspear has stepped away from her popular Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series to give readers a standalone novel, The White Lady. In 1947, Rose and Jim Mackie and their three-year-old daughter, Susie, have left a London still recovering from WWII for a home in the country, away from Jim’s controlling crime family, to start a new, independent life in Kent – living a law-abiding life with honest work.

Elinor White, the White Lady, is the Mackies’ elusive and aloof neighbor. Greetings from all the villagers are unwelcome, but Elinor is inexplicably affectionate with little Susie. Although Elinor’s strong feelings toward Susie do not match up with the explanation later in the book. We learn that that Elinor’s house is a ‘grace-and-favor’ house – a lifelong home provided for special service to the Crown. A mystery surrounds her: what did she do in the past to earn this special favor? Chronological flashbacks to Elinor’s life as a young girl during WWI and then as a woman in WWII reveal her brave service to the Crown. Now post-war, Elinor’s clandestine activities and her interactions with the local DCI, Stephen Warren, who she knew during the war, keep the plot moving and slowly unravel another mystery.

Her involvement in both wars is the most engaging narrative of the book, whereas the Rose and Jim storyline feels forced and contrived. Jim’s criminal family is trying to force him back to London to assist in a big heist. Elinor comes to Rose’s aid when the Mackie brothers show up to intimidate the family. Elinor inserts herself in this conflict, and now her life is supposedly in grave danger from the Mackies. This conflict, with its abrupt resolution, does not ring true. Unconvincing character motivations and some plot points make this book a disappointment.

Janice Ottersberg

Jacqueline Winspear does not disappoint. I love all of her books, from her Maisie Dobbs series to her standalones, and The White Lady is no exception. It is well-written, fast-paced and thrilling. I highly recommend this book. #TheWhiteLady

I screwed up the publication date of this one and didn't get around to reviewing it in March, BUT: this book is SO good! Winspear has really nailed the standalone thriller/spy novel genre in addition to her brilliance with the Maisie Dobbs series.

Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs mysteries, takes a break with a riveting standalone involving a young woman during both world wars. The White Lady is a suspenseful novel with some unusual twists at the end that I never saw coming.

Elinor DeWitt’s happy childhood in Belgium vanished in 1914 with her father’s disappearance . She was only twelve in 1916 when a woman trained her to be part of the resistance. Elinor sabotaged trains, and was forced to kill several German soldiers to protect her sister.

Years later, Elinor tried to put the past behind her when she taught languages in England, but she was once again recruited, this time to help the Allied cause. A traumatic experience and a head injury ended Elinor’s wartime operations.

Now, in 1947, Elinor White lives in a grace-and-favor cottage provided for services to the country. She’s forty-three, a silent figure to most in the small village. It’s a little girl, Susie Mackie, who breaks through Elinor’s protective layer. Then, Jim Mackie’s family comes calling. They’re a powerful crime family in London, but Jim escaped from them. They want him back in the family fold, and they threaten Jim’s wife and daughter, Susie. Elinor turns for help to several of her wartime acquaintances, but she’s quite adept at following people, a skill she developed in both wars. It’s only now that she discovers the treachery and lies she never knew about during her wartime years.

Winspear skillfully juggles three timelines in a compelling story of a woman whose wartime experiences overshadow her post-war retirement. She does an excellent job in bringing Elinor’s heroic actions to life, but she also excels in creating the atmosphere in post-war England. Elinor herself stands out in The White Lady. It may be a standalone, but Jacqueline Winspear has created an unforgettable character.

I read a lot of historical fiction, especially WWII era, and I’ve been a devoted follower of Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series.

This is something new. We meet Elinor White, a veteran of 2 wars and an ex-spy who wants to be left alone. WWII is over, and she and the rest of the country want life to go back to normal. Elinor lives near a family from London, child, mother and father, Jim Mackie. His family are well-known London gangsters and they want him back in London. Elinor gets involved after his brothers threaten Jim’s child.

Her efforts to protect the family take her back to her wartime years and she must confront some unfinished business.

This is an extremely well-written, multi-layered story. 5 stars

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

Historical women's fiction at its best, which isn't surprising with someone like Winspear at the helm. It took some time to adjust to the writing style after how out-of-touch my last few reads have been. I find myself glad for having taken the time. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

THE WHITE LADY by Jacqueline Winspear is an action-packed work of historical fiction which alternates between WWI, WWII, and the immediate post war years. The main character is Elinor DeWitt/White who as a young teen helped with wartime surveillance and active resistance in Belgium during the First World War. Later, living in England, her skills were used again and she received a small "grace and favour" Kent country home in recognition of her service. It is there that she discovers an organized crime threat to her neighbors and uses her connections to combat the danger. I thought that her character was very well-developed and it was easy to empathize with her. I particularly liked the parts of the story which were set in wartime. However, I was a bit confused by the end when it seemed that her nemesis ultimately acted out of character. Perhaps I missed something? Overall, THE WHITE LADY is an excellent story by an award-winning author and received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and Library Journal. Readers will also enjoy The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn.

Advanced Readers Copy from Netgalley

I love the Maisie Dobbs series but this fell into the just okay category for me. A one off story about a former intelligence worker drawn in to her neighbor's struggle against the underworld. There was nothing wrong with the story but I did not feel attached to the characters.

When Elinor De Witt was a young girl living in Belgium during World War I, a relative stranger recruits her to commit acts of espionage and sabotage against the Germans. Later, during the Second World War, Elinor, who speaks five languages, becomes an agent of England's SOE—Special Operations Executive. Her instructors teach her how to use a parachute, gather intelligence, kill enemy soldiers stealthily, and handle firearms. Jacqueline Winspear's iconic character, Maisie Dobbs, thrilled legions of devoted fans. The heroine of Winspear's "The White Lady" reminds us of Maisie. Elinor is resolute, daring, and competent at every task she undertakes. She also has a no-nonsense demeanor and a good heart.

In the chapters set in 1947, Elinor is a relative recluse who resides in Kent. She decides to intervene when her neighbor, Jim Mackie, his wife, Rose, and their three-year-old daughter, Susie, are threatened. Jim's father, John, is a ruthless hooligan whose family is involved in armed robbery, fraud, gambling, and other illegal activities. Mackie sends his thugs to coerce Jim, who was once incarcerated, into rejoining their criminal enterprise.

This is where the novel becomes particularly muddled. Elinor's conflict with the Mackies does not mesh well with her adventures as an agent of the British government. Although "The White Lady" had promise, most of the characters are thinly drawn; there are too many pages of lengthy exposition; and the frequent shifts in time between chapters disrupt the narrative flow. Had Winspear stuck to Elinor's escapades during World War I and II, this might have been a more satisfying work of historical fiction. On the other hand, Winspear deserves credit for highlighting the exploits of courageous women who, without fanfare, risked and sometimes sacrificed their lives to defeat their country's adversaries.

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear is a departure in many ways from her Maisie Dobbs books. They are similar in that they are about extraordinary women. The story is basically after the war with flashbacks to earlier in her life. She lives quietly in the country in a house provided by the government, for services rendered. She is used to the solitude and she likes it. Until a small girl enters her consciousness. The child lives close by with her parents: two hard working young people who are one day visited by a couple of men who leave after providing some bruises. Elinor (Linni) can’t allow that so she researches and finds the young man is from a family of mobsters. She uses her contacts in London to find out more, and observes and meets the young man’s aunt, a small time mobster herself, although not as small-time as her brothers believe. All Linni wants to do is save this little girl. She doesn’t really care what crimes the mob is committing.

The story encompasses both world wars, a subject on which Winspear is very conversant. Linni was part of the resistance during the first war and worked for the British government during the second. The woman has skills. She didn’t think she had much empathy left, but she was wrong. Women are celebrated in this book, sometimes subtly. The story is excellent. The mob sequences are interesting and revealing. Linni learns much about her own past, some of it not pretty. That she will be successful is a fore-drawn conclusion, but the journey is worth your time and Winspear never makes the ending obvious. It was a terrific book. Mysterious and dark at times, but overall, positive.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The White Lady by Harper, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Harper #JacquelineWinspear #TheWhiteLad

Having been a fan of Jacqueline Winspear's long-running Maisie Dobbs series, I looked forward to seeing how her new heroine, Elinor White, would measure up. I'm happy to say that, in The White Lady, Elinor measures up quite nicely although I didn't grow to care for her as I did Maisie.

Readers see Elinor both in 1947 and as a teenager in Belgium during World War I. Her backstory illuminates Elinor's character and makes us wonder just how many other women were forced to do the same things Elinor did in order to survive. One of the most poignant scenes in The White Lady occurs when the young Elinor is attending class once her family has escaped to England. The teacher tells the girls that almost all the young men they could have been expected to marry have been slaughtered in the trenches of World War I, and that means that these girls will have to do well in school and learn how to take care of themselves; there will be no husbands to provide for them, no children to take care of them in their old age.

Elinor carries a lot of guilt for the things she had to do during both wars, and she believes that saving the Mackies from being dragged back into the criminal ways of their family is her chance for redemption. How she goes about saving them uncovers corruption in surprising places.

The White Lady is a strong story with much to say about survival, guilt, and redemption, and Elinor White is a character I wanted to embrace wholeheartedly. However, I always felt as though she never opened the door of her cottage to me, and it was that lack of emotional resonance that spoiled my reading a bit. Your mileage could definitely vary.

For those of us who love Maisie Dobbs, any interruption of Ms. Winspear’s ongoing and welcome stream of novels detailing Maisie’s life story is suspect and might be approached with foreboding. The White Lady, her newest stand-alone book, will quickly dispel any wariness though, because it is a beautifully distilled story and a searing character-rich study of how an individual, a family, a city, a criminal network, a government, recovers or doesn’t recover from war.

Ms. Winspear is a master of this territory: portraying a woman whose coming of age and government service breaches two wars, as in Maisie Dobbs, and how the thousand tiny and large cuts of these experiences mold and temper her character. But the similarities fade at this point. In 1947 Elinor White is a fascinating and flawed enigma who lives alone in a small village, in Kent, England, eschewing human contact, often appearing aloof and unapproachable to her neighbors. She booby traps her home whenever she leaves it and is armed with an arsenal for old enemies that may be housed in her mind. Yet she cannot tolerate injustice, whether it be a local butcher tipping the scales, or a pack of criminals, the Mackie family, who target a young family down the road, a young family with a small daughter whose presence makes all the red flags wave for Elinor. Her carefully designed existence begins to come loose and she is compelled to act. But action comes at a high cost, the price of facing her past. Elinor uses her old training and instincts and some old wartime connections to explore the vast illegal interests of the Mackies, but she faces mounting obstructions, laced with sexism and not so subtle menace, at every juncture, which appears to be coming from more than one shadowy source.

And here the timeline splits to Belgium during World War 1 where young Elinor is living with her older sister, Cecily, and their beloved mother in a small occupied village. There is a resistance forming and Elinor and Cecily are recruited. The assignments given to the adolescent girls, slowly increase in danger and ratchet up to an almost unbearable tension, which is crosscut by the narrative shifts to Elinor’s present-day investigations, also exponentially increasing in risk. The alternate time traveling/flashback chapters is a device well used by novelists, and done right is most very effective. Winspear is in command, so it’s a seamless slipping from one setting to another. As the stories begin to converge, another timeline is revealed, and it’s a big reveal, with many staggering plot turns, unexpected, harrowing, and perfectly earned. We learn why Elinor is a damaged, courageous and ultimately generous character. It is impossible to be untouched by her fragility and bravery.

Winspear’s trademarks are on full display here: the unusual historical details expertly fused into the narrative, the sensory palette used in all the scenes, the snippets of dialogue that define character, the bittersweet pull of family, which pulses through everything, set against the larger landscape of war which looms in the background, or foreground or middle of all of her novels. It is a testament to the author’s skill that the accumulating anxiety you feel as the multiple timelines of this book spin forward, owes as much to the power of the plot, as it does to the fear of this marvelous book ending. You will keep checking the pages as you read, dreading the moment when you will come to the last one. Most highly recommended. My thanks to NetGalley and Harper.

Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs series, excels at writing provocative historical fiction that features female protagonist. Linnie White, the White Lady, is a woman trained by the British government to spy in two world wars. As a result of her efforts, she is granted a grace and favor cottage in the country, and is looking forward to a peaceful retirement. But when her lovely neighbors become involved with u savory characters, Miss White is there to offer her assistance. What she doesn’t realize is that her investigation will uncover secrets from her own past as well.

Having read and loved all of the books featuring Maisie Dobbs, I was concerned that I would be disappointed in reading a book featuring a new character by this author. I am happy to say that was not the case-I enjoyed this book enormously! The main character is shown both in the Firsr World War, in Belgium, and in the same country during the Second World War. Although I will always love Maisie Dobbs, I hope that this title is the first in a new series.