Community Read continues in November

Fitchburg State University's Community Read of A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sophia Purnell continues in November.

There will be a book discussion at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6 at the Leominster Public Library, 30 West St. The program, sponsored by the Friends of the Leominster Public Library, will be facilitated by the library's local history and genealogy librarian Diane Sanabria. No registration required, and the event is free and open to the public.

Next, the public is invited to "Writing Home to Fitchburg: A Reading of WWII Service Members’ Letters" at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Fitchburg Historical Society, 781 Main St.

A Woman of No Importance was chosen as a Best Book of the Year by NPR, the New York Public Library, Amazon, the Seattle Times, the Washington Independent Review of Books, PopSugar, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, BookBrowse, the Spectator, and the Times of London.

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”

The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and–despite her prosthetic leg–helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.

Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall–an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. A Woman of No Importance is the breathtaking story of how one woman’s fierce persistence helped win the war.

Learn more about the Community Read at fitchburgcommunityread.com.