Trapeze

First, you're lured in by Kate Reading's velvety voice and perfect diction--in English AND French. Next, the characters begin to breathe. Before you know it, you're hooked on Simon Mawer's marvelous combination of fact and fiction, which highlights the exploits of the women agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British espionage organization during WWII. Marian Sutro, a young woman wishing to do her part, is recruited, trained at spy school, and sent on a dangerous mission, code named ÒTrapeze.Ó Once dropped into Nazi-occupied France, Marian must find and persuade Clement, a man she once loved, to help the Allies continue their work on the atomic bomb. Period details are well developed, and locations are effectively described, thanks to Reading's compelling performance. She makes a good book even better. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

March 26, 2012
Mawer follows his Man Booker–shortlisted The Glass Room with another WWII novel based on the fascinating true story of Englishwomen whose French-language fluency led them to be deployed, via parachute, into France as agents of the resistance. The young Marian Sutro is one such woman, recruited to join the mission that gives Mawer his title, which sends her behind enemy lines in occupied France and connects her with loves both old and new. Though Marian’s naïveté and willful carelessness make her an improbable operative, her (somewhat convenient) ties to scientists researching the atomic bomb put her in a powerful and dangerous position. Slow to start (Marian’s drop into France comes well into the story), the novel picks up when she navigates the dangerous world of occupied Paris, constantly questioning who she can trust and who will betray her. While the history behind this story is captivating, Mawer’s take unfolds with inertia, is leaden with research that often feels unnecessary to the story, and is plagued with undeveloped characters, particularly his young heroine. Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic.