Includes bibliographical references and index.

1936-1942. Leaping into the unknown ; The chaos of defeat ; Fighting back ; Spying in Marseille ; The birth of alliance ; Danger in Paris ; Taking command ; A network in peril ; The mailbag ; The return of Leon Faye ; A game of wits ; "An undisputed leader" ; Sitting on a barrel of gunpowder ; The traitor ; A general escapes ; Captured ; Operation Attila ; "Down go the U-boats" -- 1943-1944. On the run ; The tinderbox of Lyon ; High anxiety ; "Here you are at last!" ; "The most remarkable girl of her generation" ; Pink heather ; Calamity ; Captives ; The map ; Going home -- 1944-1945. Caught in the net ; Liberation and beyond ; "Hail Mary, full of grace" ; The road to Gethsemane.

In 1941 Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization. Her group's name was Alliance, and used the names of animals as their aliases. Fourcade was Hedgehog: a tough little animal, unthreatening in appearance. The Gestapo pursued them relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents. Captured twice by the Nazis, she escaped and continued to hold her network together. Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself.