Publisher's Synopsis
Eight serialized novellas, each inspired by real people and actual events, reveal the incredible story of amazing heroes and heroines facing the ultimate test of bravery. In 1941 Great Britain a special war department assembles an experimental and exclusively female cohort of combat operatives consisting of four willing spies, a wireless radio operator, an ingenious code breaker, and a fearless pilot. Dubbed the Virtues, each woman is hand-picked, recruited, and trained to initiate a daring mission in Occupied France. As plans unfold to initiate the largest prison break of Allied POWs in history, the Nazis capture the young radio operator. It will take the cohesive teamwork of the rest of the women to save her life before Berlin breaks her and brings the force of the Third Reich to bear. Courage, faith, and valor intersect but, in the end, one pays the ultimate price. TEMPERANCE'S TRIAL: Marie Gilbert and her elder brother flee from Vichy France after the Gestapo arrest her father for suspicion of aiding Jewish children to escape the oncoming fascist front. Once in London, Marie is recruited into an experimental all female cohort dubbed the Virtues, a collection of seven extraordinary women with highly specialized skills, and given the codename TEMPERANCE. Assigned to Occupied France, she transmits messages deep in the heart of Nazi territory. HOMELAND'S HOPE: Stage and screen legend Virginia Benoit performs for standing room only crowds in her adopted home of France. When the Nazis roll into Paris, she flees to Casablanca, taking the heart of an enemy General with her. While in there, Virginia, soon codenamed HOPE, devises a plan to use her position, talent, and influence with the high ranking Axis officer to aid the Allied cause. CHARITY'S CODE: Dorothy Ewing works on the home-front, receiving and sending messages to her team in France and coordinating a secret mission. Using the codename CHARITY, she receives and sends messages to her team in France and coordinates a secret mission with her husband via coded letters. She intercepts the transmission from TEMPERANCE alerting to her blown cover. The clock is ticking in a race to save Temperance's life. A PARCEL FOR PRUDENCE: Assigned the code name of PRUDENCE, Muriel Tolson's natural French allows her to infiltrate Occupied France where she works as a courier; carrying messages, money, and sometimes people through the secret resistance network aiding the allies to accomplish very dangerous missions behind enemy lines. GRACE'S GROUND WAR: Can Ruth Aubertin, codenamed GRACE, and her team pull off the mission of rescuing TEMPERANCE, or will too many variables crash together at the wrong time? As a Jew deep in the heart of the Nazi occupation, Ruth knows that the Allies must win this war, and she will do everything in her power to make sure that happens. MISSION OF MERCY: Doctor Betty Grimes works undercover as a nurse with the codename MERCY. When Betty is sent to the local prison to see to a prisoner who has taken ill, her shock at finding TEMPERANCE nearly blows her cover. Now TEMPERANCE is sick and Betty needs to get her well enough for the coming rescue operation to succeed. FLIGHT OF FAITH: Pilot Helen "Troy" Mulberry flies between Britain and France transporting passengers, supplies, or performing reconnaissance under the codename FAITH. Shot down over France during the mission to rescue her fellow agent from the clutches of the Nazis, Can Helen make her way through enemy territory with no language skills and somehow come through with a means to get her team back to Britain? VALOR'S VIGIL: An American spy undercover in a Nazi uniform operating under the codename VALOR, Leopold Schafer is in charge of the prisoners in Occupied France's Valeurville prison. After the arrest of the radio operator codenamed TEMPERANCE, Leo must handle the situation with the utmost caution. Can he protect her without blowing his own cover, or will he place his own life in danger to keep
