Iola’s Unity Club held two programs in January.
In the first, Jeanne Myers reviewed “The Lost Girls of Paris,” by Pam Jenoff.
While the author insists the book is fiction, it is based upon actual secret operations in London during World War II, Myers said, in which a network of female secret agents were trained and deployed into occupied France. There, they served as couriers and wireless radio operators to aid the resistance.
“Eleanor Triggs” was responsible for the entire operation.
“A Life in Secrets” by Sarah Helm chronicles the real, extraordinary life of “Eleanor,” Vera Atkins, the head of the French section of the British special operations, who recruited, trained and monitored the special operatives. Throughout her book, Helm describes the arduous task of her investigative journalism.
Doris Stranghoner hosted the Jan. 13 meeting in her home.
THE second program, held Monday, was led by Karen Lee, and was based on three books, “Alexander Robey Shepherd” by John P. Richardson, “Silver Magnet” by Grant Sheppard and “Urban Forests by Jill Jonnes.”
In the years after the Civil War, Washington, D.C., was a muddy, treeless place, Lee explained.
In a three-year psan, Alexander Shepherd and his work gangs paved countless streets and sidewalks. They also constructed many miles of sewers, water mains and gas lines.
The fetid Tiber Canal was filled in; numerous schools were built; streetlights added; and 6,236 trees were planted.
Shepherd forced Congress to accept responsibility for improving the city, Lee noted.
After bankruptcy, Shepherd moved his large family to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, where he mined for silver with the same intensity. Alas, he eventually wound up bankrupt once again.
Monday’s meeting was in the Iola Public Library meeting room.
Roughly 15 members attended each of the two meetings.
