The White Lady is a fascinating story of Elinor de Witt (later, Elinor White, AKA the White Lady). Elinor got into the spy business as a young girl in WWI Belgium. After escaping to England after a mission went wrong, the spy was needed again to fight the Nazis in WWII. The story is dual timeline, and the retired spy tries to rescue her neighbor’s lovely child from a dangerous situation.
The book is perfect for those who may be a bit sick of WWII novels, since that is not the focus of the book (but deep down still love it).
Publisher’s Blurb:
A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government.
The private, quiet “Miss White” as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a “grace and favor” property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor’s war work had been, or that their mysterious neighbor is haunted by her past.
It will take Susie, the child of a young farmworker, Jim Mackie and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White’s icy demeanor—but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie. Yet in her quest to uncover the truth behind the family’s pursuit of Jim, Elinor unwittingly sets out on a treacherous path—yet it is one that leads to her freedom.
This quote at the end of the book has really stuck with me:
“Every war is a war against the child.”
Eglantyne Jebb, 1876-1928
Founder of Save the Children, 1919, Jebb drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1924
Age Recommendation
Adults only due to rape, war violence, violence against children.