I didn't love this one but I also didn't hate this one. However I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

This was such an interesting and compelling story with an absolutely amazing main character.

I will say that the dual timeline really didn’t work for me. I felt the formatting was very confusing, and I found myself disengaging at times.

With that said, it definitely provides a unique perspective in WWII historical fiction and was an overall enjoyable read.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Yvonne Rudellat is a middle-aged French woman, living in London in the boarding house owned by her estranged husband, when her home is bombed during the Blitz. From there, she struggles to find a new place to live, and a role in the war that satisfies her patriotic urge to fight against the Nazis in France. Eventually, she is brought into the SOE and trains as a spy and is deployed to France to help the resistance. She takes the name Jackie in honor of her daughter and finds her place in a small knit group of French resistance workers as the first British female sabotage agent.
While this book is based on the true life and experiences of Yvonne, and is clearly well researched, it felt like it lacked something. At times the writing felt disjointed, presenting different character points of view that seem to lack direction and don't necessarily contribute to the overall plot. My other complaint would be that overall, for a novel about spies, it lacked tension and any real sense of danger, perhaps because of the writing.
Generally, I very much enjoy historical fiction, especially when it is inspired by real life characters, as is this case with this book, but as mentioned above, I have some reservations about this book with regards to the writing. Overall, I did enjoy the book and was glad to learn about the life and experiences of Yvonne, so I am rounding up from 3.5 stars to 4 stars.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

I struggled with this book due to the organization. Because of how the book is laid out, I never became invested in the characters. It was a very slow start, and nothing really happened. The timeline was past and present, and It wasn’t until about the 30% mark that we finally found out what was really going on with Yvonne. She was being trained as part of the war effort as an operative. I think that had this chapter been moved closer to the front of the book, it would have made a lot more sense, and I actually would have paid attention. But because it wasn’t, I was disengaged and bored with this read. I am intrigued that this is based on a real woman, and I am going to learn more about her, it just won’t be in this book.

Thank you very much to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Loved a lot about this book. I like this author a lot and I had no idea this book was about a real person until I was partway through. It was fascinating and inspiring... and also depressing and confusing. I had a lot of questions that weren't addressed. Things where you think something is building up to something else, and then it never really resolves (like Yvonne's rebellion against the leader of her network, which appeared to have no real consequences). Also, the dual narrative between Yvonne and her Nazi pursuer was hard to read, because - if you read the Wikipedia page on Yvonne Rudellat like I did - you know that Max is going to win in the end and Yvonne will meet an unbelievably difficult end. Really tragic. That didn't detract from her absolute heroism and bravery, but that made it a little tough to get through the book for me. I loved the parts about her path to getting to France, her training, obstacles she overcame, etc. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars on account of the brilliant rat bombs (read the book if you want to know).

My thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC via netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book and I loved the main character. She was actually a irl true hero. The only thing u didn't love and I don't mind dual
Time lines was the dual time line in this story. It played havoc in my mind.

Besides for this I recommend

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this book for an honest review

All thoughts and opinions are my own and aren't influenced by anyone else

The year is 1942 as this story begins and we are in England, which is being bombed daily, and really not doing well against the evil that in invading Europe.
This is the story of Yvonne Rudellat, a mother of a grown woman, and now a divorcee, but feeling very lost and wanting to do her part. When the opportunity is presented and she goes above and beyond in her training.
Soon we follower her and others that use their training to thwart the enemy, and we are there with as they come of the enemies radar, but that doesn’t stop them!
Be sure to read the author’s notes, these people actually did these efforts, so this is a true story, and we are there through the gift of the author to see what they accomplished!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Sourcebook Landmark, and was not required to give a positive review.

This is an amazing story about an amazing woman.

When Yvonne Rudellat felt she hadn’t much left in life to fulfill her, she joined the resistance and became the first female sabotage agent. The men didn’t trust she could do her job, but that’s exactly why she was the best. Not a soul suspected her, a tiny, older woman, to be an expert bomb maker and saboteur.

This is such an intriguing and compelling story. I do wish it weren’t told in a dual timeline format as it was quite confusing at times, but nonetheless it was an immersive story that kept me turning page after page. I recommend this book to historical fiction lovers to get a different perspective on WWII. This earns 4 stars from me. Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmarks for the ARC.

I 👏 love 👏 a 👏 female 👏 hero 👏. ⁣
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Especially in WWII novels, it seems. After reading Code Name Helene this year, II saw this title on NetGalley and was immediately drawn to it. ⁣
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The Woman With No Name follows Yvonne Rudellat at kind of a turning point in her life. Her marriage has failed, her daughter is busy with war work and she’s trying to piece together how she can be involved with war efforts her after surviving a bomb blast to her home. She’s not the ideal candidate for the war efforts, being closer to middle age than not, so she is constantly overlooked. Until she’s not. ⁣
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Yvonne is selected for a strategic espionage and sabotage mission where she will deal unrelenting and unexpected blows to the Nazis right in front of their noses. ⁣
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Guys. Yvonne was a BADASS. Who bombed that building/road/supply truck? 🤷‍♀️ Couldn’t have been the sweet lady we saw just living her life. She knew she was no one’s first choice, and this fuelled her into making herself the only choice for some really important missions. ⁣
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I was so inspired that this was based on a true story! I cannot fathom the level of determination, endurance and sacrifice it would have taken to be a woman, always constantly overlooked or unheard, and still finding a way to persevere. I hope we never stop hearing about history from this perspective. Often we hear of the heroics of battle from men, but these acts of resistance from their female counterparts kept the flames of hope alive in everyone being oppressed. ❤️

Yvonne aka Jaqueline is a woman in her 40s who is recruited to be an operative in WW2 France. She does a lot of good things until her time there ends. This was a good but not very exciting book. There isn’t a lot of crazy spy things and no romance. However I don’t think this took away from the book. Yvonne was a real person and the things she did in this book really did happen! I liked that the main character was older with an established life and that she didn’t do anything insane but did believable things. I loved the side characters and liked the small town feel of it although at times it was difficult to keep track of locations because there are a lot of them. This is a solid WW2 read and I am glad I picked it up. Will definitely read more from this author.

If you are interested in a real story from WW2 with an older female character (than most WW2 stories) who is brave and believable, you’ll enjoy this. If you want something super fast paced with a ton of action this isn’t for you.

Audrey Blake's "The Woman with No Name" paints a compelling portrait of Yvonne Rudellat, thrust into the world of espionage during WWII. The narrative skillfully explores her transformation from an ordinary woman to a formidable force in the resistance, shedding light on overlooked contributions of female agents.

While Yvonne's tenacity is captivating, the uneven pacing and predictable plot twists detract from the overall impact. The novel provides a unique perspective on wartime heroism, particularly for women, making it a worthwhile read despite its execution flaws.

War stories are not happy stories. They can explain dark times or inspire people to persevere. But, there is no truly happy ending. The Woman with No Name was a page-turning story about a French woman's experience leading a section of the resistance during Germany's occupation of France. She pulls off daring acts of terrorism at great personal costs.

The main character is the kind of protagonist I love. She pushes the envelope, challenges society's roles for women and still has a heart of gold. When I found out that this book is based on the real story of Yvonne Rudellat's life and that all the characters save one in the book were real people, this story really hit close to home. This book isn't my usual genre, but it was so well written that I loved it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for offering this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought The Woman with No Name to be a pretty good read. I will on the lookout for more books by the talented Audrey Blake in the future. Four star.s

This was a great book about a strong, courageous woman. I had some struggles with it, but all in all, I really enjoyed it. My rating is probably more like a 3.5 rounded up. I thought the details around all the work that Yvonne Rudellat did were well written, and I also appreciated the pace of the story.

This is a story that I think might have been better if it had been written with a linear timeline instead of jumping back and forth. We start the story with Yvonne seeming a bit insecure, and then we jump to our heroine forming her own resistance network. I would have preferred to see how she grew to be the woman she was instead of just having to take the author's word for it at that point. As you read more of the backstory, you get the validation of who she is, but it would have been better to develop this with her.

Another problem I had with the dual timeline was that I thought there were three timelines because several chapters had the wrong dates on them! I was very confused for a bit until I realized those chapters were actually sequential and not a third timeline.

I do recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy historical fiction with strong female characters. Yvonne Rudellat did amazing work in helping to sabotage the German war effort, and this story does a good job illustrating just how much she accomplished.

Thank you to Net Galley for this arc!

“The Woman with No Name” is a historical fiction book by Audrey Blake. This book mainly takes place during WWII in France. Yvonne, the main character going by the name Jacqueline, is working with the French resistance. I liked this book in part because it was based upon a real person - and the author’s note noted what was true and what was fiction. I do, however, wish that this book had been in chronological order as the jumping about had me a lot confused trying to keep track of what happened when. Overall, though, I found this book engaging and interesting.

The Woman with No Name by Audrey Blake
Book 55 of 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Woman with No Name is the story of Yvonne, a British SOE officer, doing espionage/sabotage work in France during WWII. After surviving a blast on her home, she decides to take her life in an entirely new direction. The novel follows her present day work and also includes flashbacks of her training.

Overall, while I enjoyed the story, I felt it to not really pull my attention or be a book I couldn’t wait to return to/continue reading. I also felt as though the ending was incredibly rushed and the book just sort of abruptly ended.

Audrey writes a very gripping and realistic story base on true story of spies and woman who were behind the resistance. IN 1942, Yvonne lived through tough time including her hours being blown apart but she keeps going her strength and resilience keep her going.

This was a very, very gripping WWII book. It has been a while since I read anything historic, and this was the perfect choice of a book to get back into reading this genre. Loved it.
I have a special love for books where women are written by women, where the women are strong, resilient, and have personality and depth to them, and where their real lives look real. This book absolutely checks all those boxes.

Review: I hate to say that I did not care for this book. I typically love books about WWII, but this one missed the mark for me. I felt the chapters were confusing and going back and forth made it hard to keep up with what was going on. I noticed that a couple of the dates at the beginning of the chapters were wrong, which also made things confusing. The book was hard to get into and didn’t really get exciting until the last 30 pages. A miss for me, but maybe someone else will enjoy. Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebooks for my advanced copy.

Intriguing WWII-novel. Why is it that I never seem to tire from these kind of novels? Well, this one offers you a perspective you don't get that often: that of an active female agent who undermines the enemy. What do you do when your marriage is over, your daughter is grown-up and busy with her war work and you just survived a bomb? French born Yvonne Rudellat decides to retrain as a sabotage agent.

The story switches the whole time between her training in the UK and her adventures with the Résistance in France as the woman with no name who can't be stopped, a pacing method I really enjoyed. It's also very interesting to see the main character develop from a woman who feels overlooked because she's 'old' to a a warrior who gets people enthusiastic while learning about her past.

Audrey Blake is a duo but the novel never feels like it's written by two people. They based the story on the life of the real Yvonne Rudellat. It's very refreshing that war heroines get a voice at last. It's not only about their actions, but also hair dye and clean underwear which makes the story very realistic in my eyes.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!