Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall

Product Description

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection: 
Code Name Verity meets Inglourious Basterds in this riotous, spirited biography of the most dangerous of all Allied spies, courageous and kickass Virginia Hall.

When James Bond was still in diapers, Virginia Hall was behind enemy lines, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Hitler’s henchmen. Did this shero have second thoughts after a terrible accident left her needing a wooden leg? Please. Virginia Hall was the baddest broad in any room she walked into. When the State Department proved to be a sexist boys’ club that wouldn’t allow her in, she gave the finger to society’s expectations of women and became a spy for the British. This boss lady helped arm and train the French Resistance and organized sabotage missions. There was just one problem: The Butcher of Lyon, a notorious Gestapo commander, was after her. But, hey—Virginia’s classmates didn’t call her the Fighting Blade for nothing.

So how does a girl who was a pirate in the school play, spent her childhood summers milking goats, and rocked it on the hockey field end up becoming the Gestapo’s most wanted spy? Audacious, irreverent, and fiercely feminist,
Code Name Badass is for anyone who doesn’t take no for an answer.

Review

“Demetrios tells this fascinating story in an uber-modern narrative voice that issnarky AF, LOL, with plenty of hits to the patriarchy and a glorioussense of celebrating Dindy’s badassery. It’s breezy and lighthearted intone but meticulously well-researched, including interviews with Dindy’s surviving family. A remarkable telling of an extraordinary woman.” – Kirkus Reviews

“An enlightening account of a heroine worth knowing.” – Booklist

Badass hardly seems adequate to describe Virginia Hall or this book! Heather Demetrios has found a tragically under-known World War II icon and not only brought her story to life, but done it in vivid, meticulous, fantastic detail. I devoured this book.
— Mackenzi Lee, New York Times Bestselling author of A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and Bygone Badass Broads

…a conversational recounting of Hall’s heroism. Frequent first-person asides and ample pop culture references make even the more mundane details highly readable, while enabling Demetrios to call out the sexism and ableism Hall experienced both during the war and later at the CIA.

…Demetrios provides a thoroughly researched history of “La dame qui boite,” and those just discovering Dindy will be convinced that she was, in fact, a badass.
— BCCB – The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A ripping spy story with a generous side of stand-up comedy – a fresh twist on history.
— Steve Sheinkin, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honor Winner

“Demetrios shines a bright light on a spy whose heroic life has been in the shadows for far too long. Like Virginia, Code Name Badass is irreverent, brash, smart and true. It’s the real deal. Get it.”
— Craig Gralley, former CIA Senior Intelligence Officer and author of Hall of Mirrors

About the Author

Heather Demetrios is a critically acclaimed author, writing coach, and certified meditation teacher. She has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a recipient of the PEN America Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award for her debut novel, 
Something Real. Her novels include Little Universes, I’ll Meet You There, Bad Romance, as well as the Dark Caravan fantasy series: Exquisite Captive, Blood Passage, and Freedom’s Slave. Her non-fiction includes the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall, and she is the editor of Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love. Her honors include books that have been named Bank Street Best Children’s Books, YALSA Best Fiction For Young Adults selections, a Goodreads Choice Nominee, a Kirkus Best Book, and a Barnes and Noble Best Book. Her work has appeared in LA Review of Books, Bu