Read an Excerpt

DINDY
Virginia Hall
might have been the name
on her birth certificate,
but thanks to a nickname
from her brother, John,
Dindy was the name that stuck.
Most young girls
of Baltimore society a century ago
were expected to follow
in their mothers’ ladylike footsteps—
but Dindy made
a path of her own.
 
Never one to mind
getting her hands dirty,
her feet wet,
or her body bruised,
Dindy was happiest
riding horses and hunting
with her father and brother
at Boxhorn Farm—
the Halls’ country estate
outside Baltimore.

When Dindy’s father, Ned,
wasn’t leading the way
in outdoor adventures
on the family farm,
he was busy providing
indoor adventures
at his movie theaters—
magical places
where reels of film
brought the outside world
to Baltimore.
 
For generations
the Halls had been
fascinated by cultures
vastly different and worlds away
from Maryland shores.

At the age of nine,
Dindy’s grandfather stowed away
on his sea captain father’s clipper ship,
and later captained a ship of his own
that brought Asian goods to America.

While many of their friends
crossed the Chesapeake Bay
for seaside vacations,
Dindy’s family
crossed the Atlantic Ocean
for European adventures.

From her very first
transatlantic voyage
at the age of four,
Dindy stowed away
a love for Europe.
 
When Dindy wasn’t chasing
after her brother
at Boxhorn Farm,
or exploring foreign countries
with her family,
she was blazing
her own unique trail
at Roland Park Country School—
an all-girls school in Baltimore.

Never once
in twelve years at RPCS
did she hear—
You can’t do that, you’re a girl!
Because, unlike in the outside world,
every club and team
at Dindy’s school
was not only made up of girls—
they were all led by girls.
Nicknamed the Fighting Blade
by her ninth-grade classmates,
Dindy was a natural leader
in sports, student government,
and school activities.
She was often
her own harshest critic,
but her devoted classmates
gave her an endearing tribute
on her yearbook senior page:

She is, by her own confession,
cantankerous and capricious,
but in spite of it all
we would not do without her;
for she is our class-president,
the editor-in-chief of this book,
and one of the mainstays
of the basket-ball and hockey teams.
She has been acclaimed
the most original of our class,
and she lives up
to her reputation
at all times.
The one thing to expect from Dind
is the unexpected.

It was certainly unexpected
the day Dindy
surprised her classmates
by wearing a favorite
new bracelet to school—
a live, slithering garter snake
coiled around her wrist.

Dindy, inspired by Shakespeare’s play,
As You Like It, made it clear
on her senior page
just how much
she valued her independence
when she stated

I must have liberty, withal as large a charter as I please.

Dindy had no way
of knowing then
of the bold sacrifices
she would later make
to prove her own independence—
or the extraordinary risks
she would take
to defend and preserve
liberty for so many others.
 
Mr. Hall encouraged his daughter’s
independent nature,
and while Mrs. Hall
accepted Dindy’s free spirit,
she still expected
her beautiful, bright,
and accomplished daughter
to join the path
of other young ladies
of Baltimore society
by marrying a worthy husband
and starting a family nearby.
But in 1920, when Dindy was fourteen,
a family visit to London’s American embassy
dashed Barbara Hall’s dreams for her daughter
and steered Dindy toward a different path—
one that didn’t include
a husband, a family, or a home in Maryland.

Once she learned
American ambassadors
represented the United States
in foreign countries,
Dindy decided this was her destiny.

She wasn’t the least bit discouraged
when her father explained
there were no female ambassadors—
it only fueled Dindy’s determination.
After all, being a girl
had never gotten in the way
of her dreams before.

A maverick at home and at school,
Dindy was ready
to take her first step
toward a future
most women didn’t want
and couldn’t get
in the 1920s—
an overseas job in the United States Foreign Service.

With her father’s blessing,
and her mother’s disapproval,
Roland Park’s most original student
set off on a most unexpected journey,
leaving her hometown
and her nickname behind.