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A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII Paperback – December 4, 2007
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From an award-winning journalist comes this real-life cloak-and-dagger tale of Vera Atkins, one of Britain’s premiere secret agents during World War II.
As the head of the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive, Vera Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored special operatives whose job was to organize and arm the resistance in Nazi-occupied France. After the war, Atkins courageously committed herself to a dangerous search for twelve of her most cherished women spies who had gone missing in action. Drawing on previously unavailable sources, Sarah Helm chronicles Atkins’s extraordinary life and her singular journey through the chaos of post-war Europe. Brimming with intrigue, heroics, honor, and the horrors of war, A Life in Secrets is the story of a grand, elusive woman and a tour de force of investigative journalism.
- Print length544 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Publication dateDecember 4, 2007
- Dimensions5.17 x 1.4 x 7.9 inches
- ISBN-101400031400
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About the Author
Sarah Helm is the author of Ravensbruck: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women and A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII and the play Loyalty, about the 2003 Iraq War. She was a staff journalist on the Sunday Times (London) and a foreign correspondent on the Independent, and now writes for several publications. She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.
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Product details
- Publisher : Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; First Edition first Printing (December 4, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 544 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1400031400
- Item Weight : 1.18 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.17 x 1.4 x 7.9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #109,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #309 in Women in History
- #898 in World War II History (Books)
- #1,292 in Women's Biographies
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"A Life in Secrets" is a great piece of investigative journalism and far more exciting (and heartbreaking) than any fictional spy novel I've read. Each chapter takes you deeper into the layers of personal danger and bureaucratic intrigue. Leads seem to take the story in one direction, only for it to be derailed or redirected elsewhere. Just when you think you know what has happened, more information is discovered that puts a different spin on things. Throughout the book, the heroism and sacrifice of the agents makes you ache for answers about their fates. And you root for Vera Atkins' persistent efforts to account for and honor her missing agents.
I agree with everyone here who has praised Sarah Helm's outstanding research and writing. The number of people she interviewed, the extensive war documents she quotes, and the multiple verifications she obtained to confirm information result in an extraordinary achievement. This book is so layered. It's not only an important history of Britain's spy network in France, it's a major biography of the mysterious Vera Atkins. It includes dozens of shorter biographies of secret agents, military officers, concentration camp survivors, SS officers and prison guards. There's perspective on the deteriorating circumstances of the Jewish community in Romania and Hungary in the 1930s and lots of information on the war crimes prosecutions in 1945-47.
My only warning to readers is to be patient and really take the time to carefully read this book. The large numbers of people, places and times can be daunting to keep track of but your patience will be rewarded. I've read it twice to fully appreciate it. The Anchor Books edition includes a map and list of characters at the beginning which are helpful references. Highly recommended.
Ms. Atkins was a deeply complex, inscrutable individual who contributed significantly to the War effort in England. As with many historical figures involved with espionage and intrigue, they can be seen in retrospect as many faceted, complicated characters, motivated by sometimes opposing forces. The more I read the more complicated she became. That's more true to life; things aren't as neatly wrapped as we'd prefer.
She was a complex figure who played a major role in the operations of SOE.
Ms. Atkins' personality is explored in depth in this book with many questions raised as well as some answers provided. Espionage is a complex field with many twists and turns and many questions left unanswered. The book is also disturbing in recounting the horrors the SOE agents were subjected to by the monstrous, criminal elements of Gestapo/SS. It is horrific hearing about the abuses and torture they were subjected to, which raises their level of heroism to a higher degree. The book was fascinating to me, holding my interest and again educating me beyond what I thought I had already learned, as painful as it is.
The book is superbly researched and written - I recommend it without reservation.
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6.11.2019
watched the movie : carve her name with pride" yesterday on the "FORCES TV" channel. It was about one of the english/french resistance fighters called "Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo" (SOE agent). who was also mentioned in that book. I will read it a second time to find out more about a "mole", who betrayed quite a few resistance fighters. (MI5 and/or MI6 sopposingly involved).