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| About the Book |
The Secretary
Moscow, 1958. At the height of the Cold War, MI6 secretary Lois Vale is on a deep cover mission to identify a diplomatic traitor. She can trust only one man: Johann, a German journalist also working covertly for the British secret service. As the trail leads to Vienna and the Black Sea, Lois and Johann begin an affair but as love grows, so does the danger to Lois.
A tense Cold War spy story told from the perspective of a bright young working class woman recruited to MI6 at a time when men were in charge of making history and women were expendable.
Authentic and historical details are provided by the 1958 diary kept in Moscow by the author’s own mother, who worked for British intelligence.
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Author Bio –
Deborah Lawrenson spent her childhood moving around the world with diplomatic service parents, from Kuwait to China, Belgium, Luxembourg and Singapore. She read English at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist in London. She has written eight novels and her writing is praised for its vivid sense of place. The Art of Falling was a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick in 2005. The Lantern was published to critical acclaim in the USA, chosen for the Channel4 TV Book Club in the UK and shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year 2012. Her novel 300 Days of Sun, set in Portugal, was selected as a Great Group Read for the WNBA National Reading Group Month in October 2016 in the USA. Her novels have been translated into twelve languages.
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| My Thoughts |
In the late 1950s then, as now, the eyes of the world were on what was, alarmingly, happening in Russia. Destabilisation and the threat of nuclear war was hovering on the horizon. With mentions of the real-life spies, Philby and co, The Secretary was a realistic read. Interesting, too, to be an invisible tourist seeing Russia and Moscow through the eyes of 'The Secretary', Lois Vale.
I did find the read somewhat slow to get going, although it was interesting to muse on Lois's covert diary entries - the mundane, everyday of what she did, where she went, who she met, written, intentionally and almost boringly, by the character in order to disguise her genuine spy training - her written, mundane memoirs acting as a secret memory-jogger.
Action-packed this one is not, but intrigue makes up for that.
* * * * 4 stars
Apologies: Helen is currently convalescing from a major hip operation, so the above information might not be updated
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