This is a three book post today, and it combines fiction and non-fiction books. There is a common theme, you see. Mothers. The only element missing is that it is not May.

Now, granted, the work that Virginia Hall did was never talked about, few records survived (if they were even created in the first place), and as far as anyone then knew, she was a journalist writing about the war. It was so much more than that! A Woman of No Importance: the Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, by Sonia Purnell reads like a thriller. Virginia Hall had two strikes against her: she was a woman; and an amputee (she named her artificial leg!). Turned down for job after job with the US government (even thougth she spoke six languages, could create and decipher codes and more) she went to France, where she drove an ambulance, continuing to shuttle the wounded to safety even when the seasoned military leaders were dropping their weapons and fleeing. She goes on to be one of the lynchpins in the French Resistance. Her mother never approved, her daughter was supposed to marry well and settle down!

Tall Reader read the above book before I did, and then shared The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg with me because it too, deals with World War II (and women doing unusual jobs). Sookie Poole is looking forward to some down time with her husband. The last of three daughters has just been married, the house is quiet ... and then she gets a strange phone call, followed by a life changing registered letter. The letter is actually for her mother, (a mother who never seems pleased with her daughter, and tells her so) but since there are, um, mental issues, all mail goes through Sookie. The information takes her on a journey back in time to a family of (mostly) daughters who take on the task of keeping the family gas station running while the men are at war. One in particular, a bit more bold than her sisters, learns how to fly (think barn-storming, wing walking). She is an excellent pilot, but of course, as a woman, cannot join the military ... until it is decided that women could ferry the planes around the country. (Several of the other sisters learned to fly, too). What Sookie learns will cause her to rethink her life.

Death By Windmill: a Mother's Day Murder in Amsterdam, is the third in the Travel Can Be Murder series by Jennifer S. Alderson. I'm beginning to think Wanderlust Tours should stop having 'theme' tours, but then there'd be no story, right? ;-) Much to Lana's horror, her boss (and owner of the tour company) has invited Lana's mom on the tour. Someone Lana had not talked to for ten years. There are other mothers and daughter's on the tour, too, not all with the best of relationships. Add to that, one woman in particular has been the cause of much grief for several who are on the tour, not to mention her daughter. And then there's the pushy biographer, trying to learn as much as she can about this woman's past. What's that all about? Lots of suspects this time, lots of motive ... and that tour, remember? It must go on. Take a moment to look up some of the destinations, they are stunning.

Reading Hermit With Dog