Medals commemorating the wartime service of Violette Szabo sold at auction today in London for £260,000. Ms Szabo’s gritty and heroic efforts as a secret agent of the Special Operations Executive during World War Two was brought to screen as ‘Carve Her Name With Pride’ by Lewis Gilbert (three Bond films).
The film is good at showing the personal and private side of the life of a war hero. We are with her when she receives the telegram with news of her husband’s death; then during her interview for SOE and in training we feel her courage and dignity overcoming the difficult circumstances. The film is surprisingly forward-looking in its portrayal of women and their ability to excel in a male dominated environment. The sequences of Violette’s army training call to mind later action films in which women prove their physical equality with men.
Virginia McKenna, who played Violette, believes that the film is an accurate depiction of life as a female agent. She took advice from Maurice Buckmaster, the head of the SOE at the time Violette was hired and regarded the role as her most demanding and fulfilling. She still attends the annual commemoration for Violette who died in the concentration camp at Ravensbrück. Moreover, the film is still fondly remembered by many for its symbolic power in tellingly a rich and basically accurate portrayal of the woman who refused to surrender to the Nazis.
My interest in Violette comes from my collection of spy books and in particular the interviews and talks I had with the late author and secret agent during the war Ted Allbeury. He fondly recalled how heroic the women telephone operators were during WWII and wrote about them in novels such as the Lantern Network (1978) and As Time Goes By (1994).
Medal Auction Commemorates Violette Szabo
About The Author
Scorpion Press Blog Posts
- Crime Writers as hoarders of Knowledge
When I joined the Crime Writers’ Association and attended social functions I perceived that many writers led interesting lives as people other than writers. Aside from the obvious fact that crime writers convey in there …
- Robert Richardson – tribute to the writer and exponent of crime
It was during the mid eighties – the period when the newspaper headlines were full of stories of Britain on strike – that broadsheet journalist Robert Richardson chanced upon writing his first detective novel. It …
- The Collectibility of Leather Rebinds or collecting rare books
The Collectibilty of Leather Rebinds
In Centuries past libraries in great houses were lined with leather bound volumes. They provided accessibility to knowledge, exuded learning and gave satisfaction to the owner – who had given time … - McDermid’s ‘Distant Echo’ dramatised
Val McDermid’s first DC Karen Pirie novel is to be dramatised in a new ITV drama series. Outlander star Lauren Lyle will play the lead character – the young fearless Scottish detective – to be …
- Reginald Hill (1936 – 2012) Prolific literary crime writer
Reginald Hill, prolific British author best known for his 24 idiosyncratic, but highly elegant crime novels featuring the Yorkshire police detectives Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe, is perhaps one of the most admired and influential …
- George Blake: Epitaph for a Spy
George Blake (1922 – 2020) was one of the most enigmatic of the unmasked spies. Could he have been an unlikely perfect spy with a conscience; a man of principle or a blatant schemer? Accounts …
- R Wilson, A Small Death in Lisbon – spy thriller – rebinding
Robert Wilson, A Small Death in Lisbon (1999); winner of the CWA Gold Dagger. 1/12 signed limited of twelve copies rebound in leather with handmade marble sides; signed on limitation page with a new introduction …
- Spy Fiction Collectables
The first book in the Scorpion Press series of Signed Leather bound editions was a spy thriller – The Year of the Scorpion by Michael Hartland. Nine books with a war-time or Cold War espionage …
- 20th Century Classic 1/1 Leather French Lieutenant … by John Fowles
To mark 50th years since the original publication of John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) this is a rebinding run of 12 lettered copies with additional material and the facsimile autographs of Fowles and …
- G MacDonald Fraser, Flashman Omnibus leather rebinding
George Macdonald Fraser created one of the great English fictional characters with Flashy or Harry Flashman. This is the original first edition issued by Barrie & Jenkins entitled Flashman’s First Omnibus (1979). Forty years on …
- Early Inspector Morse rebinding – Colin Dexter
Colin Dexter, The Riddle of The Third Mile, 1st edition Macmillan 1983. Rebound with five raised bands with maroon leather with an Author Profile approved by the Dexter family. Twelve deluxe lettered copies only.
This project … - Classic Peter Lovesey Gold Dagger book fine binding
Peter Lovesey, The False Inspector Dew 1st London ed., 1982
A sumptuous leather rebinding with five raised bands with marble sides, additional page approved and signed by the author.
1/12 deluxe issued by the Scorpion Press.
A …