The Nearest Thing to Heaven
The Untold True Story of a Woman Spy in WWII
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$0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus voucher
The Nearest Thing to Heaven
Buy Now for $27.79
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Narrated by:
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Nan Temkin Dudley
If only she had been a boy. What good is being fearless and wild at heart when her family’s rigid demands are suffocating her?
Mary has an insatiable desire to break free, but in the upper echelon of Maltese society, repressed and painfully Catholic in 1937, there is no escape from her insulated, structured existence. A talented ballerina, she dreams of dancing and flying airplanes but instead is forced into marriage by her mother, her only other option to become a nun.
When Mussolini drops his bombs relentlessly on the small yet mighty British colony of Malta, life is turned upside down. World War II is in full force, and the island becomes a military fortress, under siege, the people starving.
Will Mary roll bandages or pick up a gun and join the fight, a fight requiring the sacrifice of everything she holds dear?
The Nearest Thing to Heaven is the triumphant, untold, true-life saga of a bold and remarkably singular 20th century woman.
See our website for hand-drawn maps corresponding to each section of the book.
©2026 Nan Temkin Dudley and Katina Le Kerr (P)2026 Nan Temkin Dudley and Katina Le Kerr