It may be a standalone, but Jacqueline Winspear has created an unforgettable character. Elinor herself stands out in The White Lady. She does an excellent job in bringing Elinor’s heroic actions to life, but she also excels in creating the atmosphere in post-war England. Winspear skillfully juggles three timelines in a compelling story of a woman whose wartime experiences overshadow her post-war retirement. It’s only now that she discovers the treachery and lies she never knew about during her wartime years. Elinor turns for help to several of her wartime acquaintances, but she’s quite adept at following people, a skill she developed in both wars. They want him back in the family fold, and they threaten Jim’s wife and daughter, Susie. They’re a powerful crime family in London, but Jim escaped from them. It’s a little girl, Susie Mackie, who breaks through Elinor’s protective layer. She’s forty-three, a silent figure to most in the small village. Now, in 1947, Elinor White lives in a grace-and-favor cottage provided for services to the country. A traumatic experience and a head injury ended Elinor’s wartime operations. Years later, Elinor tried to put the past behind her when she taught languages in England, but she was once again recruited, this time to help the Allied cause.

Elinor sabotaged trains, and was forced to kill several German soldiers to protect her sister.

She was only twelve in 1916 when a woman trained her to be part of the resistance. The White Lady is a suspenseful novel with some unusual twists at the end that I never saw coming.Įlinor DeWitt’s happy childhood in Belgium vanished in 1914 with her father’s disappearance. Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs mysteries, takes a break with a riveting standalone involving a young woman during both world wars.

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