From SRP author Tracy Cooper-Posey:
When I was first researching what would become the Adelaide Becket series, I stumbled across a fascinating historical figure: Virginia Hall.
She had absolutely nothing to do with my chosen era—wrong war, wrong continent—but she was too compelling to ignore. And here’s where things get interesting: Hall is actually Mark’s mother’s family name. Mark’s mum lived through WWII herself, which made the discovery feel a little serendipitous.
Virginia Hall was a spy for the Allies during the Second World War, operating behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France. She was the only female civilian to receive the Distinguished Service Cross. Oh, and she did it all with just one leg.
The Nazis called her “The Most Dangerous of All Allied Spies”, and their intelligence services spent an inordinate amount of time trying to catch her. They thought she was Canadian. She was, in fact, American. They thought she was Parisian. She was, in fact, posing as one. They thought she was just another resistance operative. She was, in fact, so much more.
Hall’s story stuck with me, even as I dove deeper into the world of espionage prior to the Great War. Would Adelaide Becket have crossed paths with someone like her in a different time? Quite possibly.
Some historical figures refuse to be forgotten. Virginia Hall is one of them.
Tracy Cooper-Posey
SRP Author
