The Secret History of Audrey James
The core story in this book is a plot to assassinate Hitler in 1938. Audrey James is a young Englishwoman studying in Berlin who is drawn into the conspiracy while sheltering her Jewish friend, Ilse. The plot almost succeeds, and there is a lot of collateral damage.
The story is told as a dual time-stream narrative in the familiar pattern of a woman researching the life of another woman at an earlier time in history and drawing courage and inspiration from her subject’s experience. In this case Kate takes a job at the guest house owned by the now aging Audrey at Alnwick in Northumberland and persuades her employer to let her record her secret history before she dies. The story is intertwined with Kate’s own complicated love life, which I don’t think adds much to the narrative.
There is also a short after-story in which Audrey spends the war years in a women’s prison. It is based on a real-life story (the assassination plot is fictitious) but sits awkwardly with the rest of the book. Nevertheless, the core story well rewards the reader with a strong and suspenseful narrative.
