Taking the cover of a reporter for the New York Post, she went into Vichy France, eventually basing in Lyon.

The rapid German invasion of France forced her to flee to Spain, and from there to England, where she joined the fledgling Special Operations Executive, or SOE, a top secret organization set up to conduct reconnaissance, espionage, and sabotage. At the outset of World War II, despite her wooden leg, which often gave her pain, she became an ambulance driver in France, speeding into intensely dangerous areas where other drivers refused to go. She finally quit the State Department in frustration. She was assigned secretarial deskwork, and though she performed admirably, far beyond the parameters of her job, she was refused time after time when she sought promotions. Hall first sought employment with the State Department, but was stymied by its prejudiced attitude towards women, an attitude that would follow her through most of her career. What makes it even more amazing is that before the war started she lost her left leg just below the knee in a hunting accident and thenceforth went about with a strapped-on wooden leg, and that she was a woman operating in a system that was heavily biased concerning the toughness and superiority of men in dangerous situations. This is the tale of a true spy, a real hero named Virginia Hall. Step aside, James Bond, with your wild, fantastical, gadget-laden, good-guy-always-wins superhero stories of unrealistic espionage.

Book review a woman of no importance