Second World War medals awarded to Resistance heroine Violette Szabo, including the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre, were sold at auction on Wednesday.

The medals sold to Lord Ashcroft’s collection within a minute and raised a sum of £260,000. They are expected to go on sale in the Imperial War Museum, London. Tania Szabo, daughter of Violette, said it was a “difficult decision” to part with her mother’s medals, but an “important one for the nation”. Lord Ashcroft said of the sale: “I am absolutely thrilled to have acquired such an iconic medal group, awarded to a remarkable woman.”

The story behind the medals is told in Violette’s biography, Carve Her Name With Pride, which is on sale now for only £10. A free article about her capture by the Germans in the French time of Salon-la-Tour is available on Warfare Magazine.

Dr Sara Read will be signing copies of Maids, Wives, Widows at The Big Comfy Bookshop, Coventry, on Saturday, 25 July from 1-4pm. Details of this event can be found via the event page on Facebook.

Maids, Wives, Widows is a lively exploration of the everyday lives of women in early modern England, from 1540-1740. The book uncovers details of how women filled their days, what they liked to eat and drink, what jobs they held, and how they raised their children. With chapters devoted to beauty regimes, fashion, and literature, the book also examines the cultural as well as the domestic aspect of early modern women’s lives. Further, the book answers questions such as how women understood and dealt with their monthly periods and what it was like to give birth in a time before modern obstetric care was available.