Tag: spies

The Real Miss Moneypenny.

Book Review for “One Woman's War” by Christine Wells. Summary: "When Victoire "Paddy" Bennett first walks into the Admiralty's Room 39, home to the Intelligence Division, all the bright and lively young woman expects is a secretarial position to the charismatic Commander Ian Fleming. But soon her job is so much more, and when Fleming … Continue reading The Real Miss Moneypenny. →

A Fashion of Fighting.

Book Review for “Sisters of the Resistance” by Christine Wells. Summary: "France, 1944: The Nazis still occupy Paris, and twenty-five-year-old Gabby Foucher hates these enemies, though, as the concierge of ten rue Royale, she makes it a point to avoid trouble, unlike her sister Yvette. Until she, like her sister, is recruited into the Resistance … Continue reading A Fashion of Fighting. →

Resistance in Red Lipstick.

Book Review for “Code Name Hélène” by Ariel Lawhon Nancy Wake was an ex-pat Australian, working as a freelance journalist in France sending stories to the Hearst papers in the US, when she fell in love with the wealthy businessman, Henri Fiocca. That was in 1936, and Nancy had already witnessed the beginnings of the … Continue reading Resistance in Red Lipstick. →

Breaking the Broadcasts.

Book Review for “The Lost Girls of Paris” by Pam Jenoff. In the last years of WWII, the UK set into motion a plan to send people into Nazi occupied France where they would work as couriers in situ for the resistance and allied forces, or send vital information, by special coded radio transmissions, back … Continue reading Breaking the Broadcasts. →

A Good Ghost.

Book Review for “Signed, Mata Hari” by Yannick Murphy. Margaretha Zelle, aka Mata Hari, was a woman who lived a strange and disjointed life, and died in disgrace, executed for her spying during the first World War. This historical, biographical novel describes her complex history from her early life in the Netherlands, to her loveless … Continue reading A Good Ghost. →

The Tint and the Taint

Book Review of “The Blue” by Nancy Bilyeau. In the author’s notes of this book, Bilyeau calls this “a spy story set amid the rivalry of eighteenth-century porcelain factories,” in which the author tells the story of Geneviève Planché, who becomes entangled in the intrigue behind discovering a new shade of blue that is also … Continue reading The Tint and the Taint →

Unraveling the Complexes

Book review of The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. During the first World War, the British government employed many people as spies in German-occupied Europe, and many of them were women. One of those women was code-named Alice DuBois (who preferred to be called Lili), and became their "Queen of Spies," managing an underground slew … Continue reading Unraveling the Complexes →

The Calm within the Storm

Book Review of "Restless" by William Boyd. Ruth Gilmartin is a single mother, working on her Master’s Thesis and teaching English as a Second Language in Oxford. Her mother, Sally, has decided to write down the story of her experiences during WW2 and give them to Ruth. This is when Ruth discovers that the woman … Continue reading The Calm within the Storm →