The Words I Never Wrote

October 7, 2019
In her latest, Thynne (the Clara Vine mystery series) memorably portrays how the bond shared by two sisters can be fractured by politics and war. In 2016 New York City, photographer Juno Lambert purchases a 1931 Underwood Portable typewriter as a photo prop and discovers inside it an unfinished manuscript written by deceased WWII reporter Cordelia Capel. The manuscript tells the story of Cordelia and her sister, Irene, who married German lawyer and industrialist Ernst Weissmuller in 1936 England and moved to Germany. After the wedding, Cordelia moves to Paris and works for journalist Torin Fairchild. As the Nazi party gains more control in Germany, Cordelia and Irene continue to write to one another. Irene’s letters are filled with information about parties with high-ranking Nazi officials, and she never answers Cordelia’s questions in her letters about the brutality of the Nazis. After Torin leaves Paris to rescue a fellow journalist in Spain, Cordelia returns to London where she is recruited to prepare British agents to go undercover in France. After reading the partially finished manuscript, Juno is determined to find out more about Cordelia and takes an assignment in Berlin, where she is able to uncover more about Irene and Cordelia. Thynne’s elegant narrative immerses the reader in war-torn Europe while potently showing the division that forms between Cordelia and Irene. Fans of WWII fiction with strong female characters will be immersed in this magnetic novel. Agent: Caradoc King, United Agents.

November 15, 2019
Two English sisters become estranged during the Second World War while, in present-day New York, a photographer pursues the dramatic story behind their rift. When Juno Lambert buys a vintage typewriter previously owned by esteemed newswoman Cordelia Capel, she finds an unfinished manuscript inside. Intrigued, Juno reads the novel (or is it a memoir?) and resolves to uncover what happened between Cordelia and her older sister, Irene. The chronicle begins in 1936, when Irene marries a German industrialist and moves to Berlin. At first, Irene is entranced by her handsome husband and the glamorous life they lead. Soon, though, she develops misgivings about him and his attachment to Nazi bigwigs. Cordelia, meanwhile, lands a job at a Paris newspaper and falls for the bureau chief, who leaves her, and his job, to fight Franco in Spain. The sisters correspond at first, but Cordelia becomes disillusioned with her sister's sunny reports--unaware that Irene is not free to write what she wishes. Cordelia eventually returns to England to train as a spy while Irene's life in the war-ravaged German capital deteriorates--though she too finds a way to undermine the Nazi effort. The book begins awkwardly, and the many hairpin plot turns are a little dizzying. It also covers some familiar turf--author Thynne (Solitaire, 2016, etc.) herself has written books with a similar setting--and flirts with melodrama. But this is a satisfying book, filled with vivid historical detail and surprisingly nuanced characters. It effortlessly integrates real-life figures, including the notorious double agent Kim Philby, who plays a small but pivotal role, and Martha Dodd, daughter of America's ambassador to Germany, who befriends Irene. An engrossing, suspenseful page-turner that defies expectations.

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