Code Name Hélène

by Ariel Lawhon

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed. —ERNEST HEMINGWAY

This line comes at the end of one of my favorite scenes in the entire novel. Nancy has woken on her first morning in the woods with the French Resistance and she needs to use the restroom. There are no facilities, no accoutrements, and what’s more, she is surrounded, as she describes, by “two hundred sex-starved Frenchman.” It is no surprise that a handful follow her into the woods. What happens next, however, is quite surprising and really did happen. Nancy knew that, in order to lead those men, they could never look at her with lust. That said, she had no interest in losing her femininity in order to gain their respect. Her actions were a masterclass in being a woman AND a warrior.