Weekly Reader: The Spark of Resistance: Women Spies of World War II by Kit Sergeant; Sergeant's Spies Take On The So-Called Fuhrer And Vichy France

 

Weekly Reader: The Spark of Resistance: Women Spies of World War II by Kit Sergeant; Sergeant's Spies Take On The So-Called Fuhrer And Vichy France

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Let's see, we have seen The Revolutionary War through Kit Sergeant Sergeant's excellent writing. Then the Civil War followed by World War I. Where to go next? Why World War II of course. Instead of confining the stories of female spies to one book, Sergeant stretches their stories into a three volume series, about spies in Allied Europe, particularly the French Resistance. This approach allows Sergeant to spend more time on the female spies as well as the changing landscape of the war between the Allied and Axis powers.

The first book, The Spark of the Resistance begins right at the start of the Nazi occupation of France and when the flames of Resistance were just getting lit.

Like Sergeant's previous works, we get points of view from various women from all walks of life who fight for causes that they believe are greater than themselves. 

One of the first women that is recruited is Mathilde Lily Carre AKA La Chatte (The Cat). She is to help organize the official Resistance by recruiting potential members. She is the match that lights the flame. She also works to bring together the Internationalle, the various subgroups of Resistors into one large supergroup.

Another woman is Odette Sansome, French by birth but moved to England after her marriage. Because of her fluency in French, she is recruited by the British War Office, leaving her three children behind. Most of the book consists of her training and some missteps. Eventually, she becomes involved in sabotage and reconnaissance.

Eileen "Didi" Nearne- Her sister, Jackie is recruited to be a spy under the cover of an ambulance driver. Didi is envious but also wants to follow in Jackie's footsteps. Eventually she becomes a wireless operator overhearing information and passing it along in code. 

Since this book is the first of three part series, Sergeant has more time to dwell on the parts that she had glossed over in the previous books. Here we get the actual beginnings of how these spy rings are formed and how potential spies are trained.

We see Mathilde studying people's characters and true emotions. She drops hints in lines, cafes, apartments and ascertains their allegiances based on their reaction. If someone says that things are better now that the Germans have taken over, well they are out. If someone is upset about the Vichy but too timid to fight against them, well they might be out too. But if someone wants to fight the invading army and is ready to use their skills, then they are the right ones for the job. Much of Mathilde's talents include reading people and she is good at it.

We also see the difficulties that spies have in learning to adapt to the technology and the lingo. Didi in particular has to learn several code names and terms during her time as an operator. One wrong word, number, or even wrong inflection on a syllable could mean death for someone. While she is never in much physical danger by not being in the field, her job is no less difficult than the others and requires a strong photographic and eidetic memory.

With Odette, we see exactly how spies are trained. In fact most of the book deals with her training like learning how to live under a new name and identity even the basics like responding to that name.

 In one frightening passage, she is awakened and kidnapped by people who demand to know who she is and who she works for. It isn't until after it is done that she learns that it's a training exercise to see if she can withstand torture. 

With these women, there is also a lot of mixing the personal with the political. They get romantically involved with fellow spies, two with the same man. They have to figure out how to separate their emotional feelings with the job at hand. We see that even though the Resistance has the goal to fight the Nazis, it is made up of people. People sometimes get jealous, get mad, worry about relationships, and are forced to work with people whom they would rather scratch their eyes out. Sergeant makes clear that these women are flesh and blood human beings and not cardboard two dimensional heroes created by a propaganda machine. While what they do is brave, their humanity is never in doubt.

Unfortunately, there is a strong level of betrayal when one of the women is taken and forced to become a double agent. To Sergeant's credit, she never portrays this character as hard hearted and she regrets sending so many of her fellow spies to prison or to their deaths. But what's done is done and she still has to make the choice of weighing her life over the others. Once that choice is made, she has to live with the consequences. 

Like her previous books, Sergeant brings a lot of humanity and courage to the female spies. This is one spark that is ablaze with great characterization, historical detail, and writing.