Published by Constable,
2 June 2016.
2 June 2016.
ISBN 978-1-4721-1987-2
This is an unusual book. It straddles the space between fiction and
nonfiction but cannot be described as faction, our modern confounding of these
two forms. The writer is anxious to
dispel ideas of this as faction. He has
obviously got a great deal of research material - the lengthy list of sources
makes this clear but he tells us, at the beginning of this list that although
he has written in the style of a novel he sees the book as nonfiction because
he has used archival sources for background features such as weather and, when
he refers to the thoughts of characters, he has used information from their own
autobiographical materials.
What
we have is a story about Nazi spies in GB in the period just before the London
Blitz. Tyler Kent and Anna Wolkoff act
as agents while Max Knight acts as MI5 spy hunter. The story unfolds with alternating chapters
on the activities of these three protagonists starting in 1939. Gradually the two agents move towards meeting
each other and using the documents stolen from the US Embassy in the UK by
Tyler, who worked in the Code Room. The
Fascist sympathies of Anna Wolkoff are fully documented as she attempted to undermine
the democratic government and demonstrate her rabid anti-Semitism. The fact that Tyler Kent was actually
stealing materials originally for the Russians is clearly shown (at the
beginning of the tale he was at the US Embassy in Russia).
Max
Knight organises various spies on their activities and, eventually arranges for
their arrests. The complex relationships
documented require a lengthy list of people mentioned. Notes are provided and the list of sources is
enormously detailed. The story is a fascinating
one in its layering of WW2 experiences but it is of considerable length and
depth!
------
Reviewer: Jennifer S. Palmer
Paul
Willetts has written several other non
fiction books.
Paul Willetts is
the author of four widely praised works of non-fiction, the latest of these
being Rendezvous at the Russian Tea Rooms.
His previous book, Members Only,
provided the basis for The Look of Love,
a movie starring Steve Coogan, Anna Friel and Imogen Poots. Alongside his non-fiction output, Paul has
edited four collections of much-admired writing by Julian Maclaren-Ross — Selected Stories (2004), Collected Memoirs (2004), Selected Letters (2008) as well as Bitten By the Tarantula and Other Writing (2005). Paul's occasional
journalism has appeared in a variety of publications, among them The Daily
Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Times
and The Spectator.
Jennifer S Palmer Throughout my reading life crime fiction has been
a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an expatriate in the Far
East, the Netherlands & the USA but occasionally the solace of closing my
door to the outside world and sitting reading was highly therapeutic. I now
lecture to adults on historical topics including Famous Historical Mysteries.
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