Frank Fairfield
Secrets and Spies
A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE
By Sarah Helm
Little, Brown, 463pp £20 order from our bookshop
Some years ago, staying in Alsace, I was asked if I would be interested in visiting a Nazi concentration camp in the vicinity. I had never heard of the place, Natzweiler, and had no idea that such an abomination existed amidst the beautiful Vosges mountains. It is the obscene contrast between the heavenly views from within the camp's perimeter wire and the atrocities that were perpetrated within that wire that most strikes the modern visitor to Natzweiler – the devastating climactic scene of Sarah Helm's impressive and obsessive debut book.
In July 1944 four women arrived at Natzweiler. Their appearance created excitement in the all-male camp. They were young, pretty, well-dressed, and carried vanity cases – extraordinary enough to cause a buzz among the beaten, starving, disease-ridden camp captives. At first, rumour suggested that the newcomers would staff an SS
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
‘Even setting to one side the historically neuralgic relationship with ... Ireland, Britain’s insular periphery has from at least the time of the Romans presented difficulties for authorities wishing to centralise.’
Peter Marshall on Britain's islands.
Peter Marshall - Notes from the Atlantic Archipelago
Peter Marshall: Notes from the Atlantic Archipelago - The Britannias: An Island Quest by Alice Albinia
literaryreview.co.uk
Offer ends soon! Take advantage of our best ever Black Friday offer and get a year's subscription for £29.99.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/blackfriday/
Our best ever Black Friday discount!
Offer ends on Monday.