Product Description

A story of three women and their secret war. Paulette, Vi and Jenny, all volunteers, all parachuted in to the Dordogne in 1942, working for Harry Bailey's SOE network. The secretive life they lead, isolated behind enemy lines, the danger and violence they have to face, will change them all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #728003 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 303 pages

Customer Reviews

A moving history of women in the SOE
I actually listened to this book on audiobook. It is not the typical book I would read but since I was planning to listen to it in conjunction with my boyfriend I picked 'a war book' anyway. Yet I enjoyed it immensely and it has remained with us since; every so often it will come up in conversation and that surely is the sign of a good book. The thing that has stuck with me most about the book was the author's note that he wrote this book because he wanted to write a book specifically about the women in the SOE. He felt that their greatest battle was yet to come and that, after the war, it was very difficult for them to go back to their ordinary lives in that particular era. There was a very high rate of suicide in women operatives after the war.

The story is of a group of British SOE agents who are sent into France to aide the Resistance and their adventures there. Whilst a straightforward sort of spy story it captures well the atmosphere and risks of the time and how terribly brave these people were. Read in conjunction with the knowledge of why the author wrote the book and what was to come for these women it presents a moving portrait of people who risked all so that we could remain free. I would recommend it to anyone since I had no particular interest in the subject previously and enjoyed it nevertheless.

If you have the interest subsequent to this there is a small museum to the SOE at Beaulieu Castle which is worth visiting.