Churchill's Secret Messenger

April 1, 2021
The Special Operations Executive (SOE), Britain's WWII unit that sent spies into Nazi-occupied France, has been the subject of many recent historical thrillers, several of which have focused on women operatives. Add this one to an impressive list that includes Cara Black's Three Hours in Paris (2020) and Susan Elia MacNeal's The Paris Spy (2017). Drawing on historical material, Hlad concocts an appealing and exciting story involving the recruitment of a typist, Rose Teasdale, working in Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms, to train for the SOE and parachute into France. Working with two fellow SOE agents, Rose, code-named Dragonfly, becomes a courier, ferrying information to a real-life French Resistance group called Physician. Soon, she is participating in Resistance bombings, often working with Lazare Aron, with whom she falls in love. Hlad does a nice job of intertwining the romance and action stories, treating both realistically and largely without melodrama. The early parts of the novel, detailing Rose's work in the below-ground War Rooms and her encounters with Churchill, prove every bit as compelling as the behind-the-lines drama. Good reading for both WWII and romance fans.

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