The heroine of the film and book Carve her name with pride, Violette Bushell worked as a hairdresser and sales assistant after school in Brixton. Etienne Szabo, her husband, was shot down and Violette decided to put her French ancestry and birth to use in SOE.

She was parachuted in near Rouen, was arrested twice and returned to England. Undaunted she went back to France but was ambushed, taken to Ravensbruck concentration camp and shot.