The Ace of Nerve

Nancy Wake was the White Mouse—the Gestapo’s most wanted woman, a fearless saboteur, and a legend of the French Resistance. But by the time Aroha Tui meets her in 2010, she is nothing more than a cranky old woman in a care home, half-drowned in whiskey and worn-down bravado.

Aroha, a young Māori nurse, is assigned to look after Nancy at the Royal Star and Garter in Richmond. At first, she dismisses the stories of war and glory as the ramblings of an aging heroine. But when Nancy offers her a deal—find her lost war medals, and she’ll tell her story one last time—Aroha is drawn into a mystery that spans decades.

Nancy sold her medals years ago, casting them aside like relics of a past she wanted to forget. But why? The search for them leads Aroha deep into Nancy’s memories of wartime France, where the legend of the White Mouse was forged in fire and blood. Yet beneath the tales of sabotage and survival lies something Nancy has never spoken of—something that has haunted her for a lifetime.

As Aroha pieces together the truth, she discovers that some legacies are not only built on courage, but on the secrets we keep to survive. And for Nancy, the greatest battle may not have been against the Nazis, but with the ghosts of her past.

Based on the extraordinary true story of Nancy Wake, The Ace of Nerve: Codename Hélène peels back the bravado of an SOE legend to reveal the flesh-and-blood woman beneath. A tale of courage, resilience, and the weight of memory, this dual-timeline novel explores the cost of war—and the unfinished stories we leave behind.