"Romantic World War II Historical Fiction"
Reviewed by Melissa Beck
Posted September 3, 2014
Fiction
This is the story of Nanette, who was a female spy for the
allies during World War II. When the story begins she is
in her eighties and lives in a nursing home in Canada. A
young man named Joseph, who is the grandson of another spy
during the war, is questioning Nanette about the time she
spent as a spy in France.
The character of Nanette as an old woman is very charming.
She tells salacious stories about her time in the war and
embarrasses her young listener several times. She also
likes to drink heavily and smoke while she is telling her
war stories.
Nanette reveals to Joe that she actually posed as a
prostitute who was servicing German soldiers stationed in
France. The stories that she tells are erotic but also
give us a glimpse into the war as it is nearing its end.
The German forces are very nervous about an allied
invasion
and they are using inexperienced and young soldiers on
their front lines.
Nanette also tells Joe the story of his grandmother who
was a another spy during World War II and whose code name
was "The Queen." The Queen was also stationed in France
and while she is there she stays with a female doctor and
poses as the Doctor's assistant. The relationship between
the Queen and the doctor is intense and takes an
unexpected
turn. I enjoyed reading this book CODE NAME NANETTE because of
its setting during
World War II, but I also liked its exploration of
relationships and the strain that this war has on those
relationships.
I highly recommend CODE NAME NANETTE if you
are a fan of historical fiction set during World War II
and
if you enjoy some romance mixed into the plot as well.
SUMMARY
Joe Parker will never see women, young or old, the same
way
again. Six months earlier, he would have laughed at the
suggestion
he’d find himself drinking Canadian whisky in Montreal at
one o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, much less doing it
with
a little old woman who used to be a spy and loves telling
erotic stories. But letters he’s discovered in his grandmother’s basement
have set him on a quest to uncover his grandfather’s
identity. They lead to Nanette, a retired British agent
who
served with his grandmother in France during World War II. Joe finds Nanette in a retirement home, her body
prematurely
ravaged by age and illness. But she’s still the same
saucy,
irreverent, and unapologetic vixen she was during the war
inside, and she’s bored to tears. At first, Nanette toys with Joe, using spy tactics to keep
him off balance. But once she starts revealing secrets,
he’s
mesmerized. The roles Nanette and his grandmother played
behind the scenes in the war are not what Joe expected,
and
the secrets she reveals, not just about the war but also
about what women want and the nature of love, will change
his life forever. Inspired by true stories from World War II, “Code Name
Nanette” is a quirky, sexy, character-driven homage to the
female adventurers and heroines who loved and fought on
the
front lines as passionately as the men, but whose
escapades
and exploits remain largely unknown and unheralded to this
day.
What do you think about this review?
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|