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Review "Judith Pearson does a remarkable job of bringing one of America's greatest spies back to life. I highly recommend this story of derring-do and white knuckles suspense."-Patrick O'Donnell, Combat Historian and Author of Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs"A great, true, spy tale."--Grand Rapids PressPraise for Judith Pearson's Belly of the Beast: A POW's Inspiring True Story of Faith, Courage, and Survival aboard the Infamous WWII Japanese Hell Ship Oryoku Maru"An inspiring look at one of WWII's darkest hours."--James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers"Captures an experience almost too terrifying for words. To follow one man's ordeal in a Japanese torture ship is to travel through the bowels of hell."--Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking"[A] searing tribute."--Senator John McCain"Recommended for any public library with readers interested in World War II."--Library Journal Product Description Virginia Hall left her Baltimore home in 1931 to enter the Foreign Service. But as Hitler was building toward the peak of his power in Europe, she went to work for the British Special Operations Executive. She was assigned to France, where she became the architect of the Resistance movement in central France, helping escaped prisoners of war, and American Allied paratroopers. The Gestapo considered her so dangerous, they put a price on her head, forcing her to escape over the Pyrenees mountains--and on an artificial leg. When she got to England, she was reassigned to France, disguised as an old peasant woman. Her spy circuit captured 500 German soldiers and killed more than 150, while they sabotaged Nazi communication and transportation facilities. Hitler's forces were hot on her trail, yet her daring intelligence activities and indomitable spirit defied the expectations of even the Allies until the very end of the war.To the Germans, she was "the lady with a limp." To the Allies, she was a savior. This is her true story, and her ONLY biography to include actual information from those brave men who were a part of her spy circuit. From the Back Cover Virginia Hall left her comfortable Baltimore roots of privilege in 1931 to follow a dream of becoming a Foreign Service Officer. After watching Hitler roll into Poland, then France, she decided to work for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret espionage and sabotage organization. She was soon deployed to France where the Gestapo imprisoned, beat, and tortured spies.Against such an ominous backdrop, Hall managed to locate drop zones for money and weapons, helped escaped POWs and downed Allied airmen flee to England, and secured safe houses for agents. Soon, wanted posters appeared throughout France offering a reward for her capture. By winter of 1942 Hall had to flee France via the only route possible: a hike on foot through the frozen Pyrénées Mountains into neutral Spain.Upon her return to England, the OSS recruited her and sent her back to France disguised as an old peasant woman. While there, she was responsible for killing 150 German soldiers and capturing 500 others, sabotaging communications and transportation links, and directing resistance activities. This is the true story of Virginia Hall, a remarkable woman ignored by history books for over fifty years. About the Author Judith L. Pearson is an award winning writer whose career began in a tree: a wonderful old maple in her parents' backyard, with a perfect branch on which to sit and spill out her thoughts. Now hundreds of thousands of words later, this Michigan native is still writing.A graduate of Michigan State University, Pearson has written hundreds of thousands of words, including three books. The first two are biographies about ordinary people who exhibited extraordinary courage: Belly of the Beast: a POW's Inspiring True Story of Faith, Courage and Survival, and Wolves at the Door: the True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy. The latter has been purchase