Madeleine’s War
This story is about Madeleine Dirac, whose knowledge of the French language and her extemporary work with FANY (the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) gets the attention of her superiors. She is transferred to begin extensive training as an agent for SC2, a British secret service organization during WWII. Women are being recruited and trained to be dropped behind enemy lines with transmitters and equipment for the French Underground. The head of the facility is Matt Hammond, whose war injury keeps him from active fighting, but his knowledge of the French Resistance makes his role even more vital to the upcoming Allied invasion. He and Madeleine become intimately involved, and their parting is hard, as Matt knows Madeleine is putting her life on the line, and agents have little hope of survival. An additional subplot that adds an interesting twist to the story’s end involves an assignment directly from the Prime Minister.
Wartime historical novels can be tricky to write, especially when there is a love story included. The realism that the author breathed into his work made me feel like I was reading about actual experiences. Once dropped behind enemy lines, the agents did not know who to trust, and with radio equipment on their person, the fear of Nazis discovering their identities, leading to torture and death, was ever-present. The story continues beyond the Allied invasion, when Matt’s job requires going into France to document what happened to the agents who did not return. Laws related to discussions of the people, their training, and the espionage that took place during WWII, were so strict that only now are we discovering just how brave the Allied agents were in those difficult years, and how few survived. I would definitely recommend this book.
