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36th out of 112 books
—
17 voters
A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII
by
Sarah Helm
Once rumored to have been the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Miss Moneypenny, Vera Atkins climbed her way to the top in the Special Operations Executive, or SOE: Britain’s secret service created to help build up, organize, and arm the resistance in the Nazi-occupied countries. Throughout the war, Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored the agents for the SOE’s French Sectio
...moreHardcover, 528 pages
Published
August 22nd 2006
by Nan A. Talese
(first published 2005)
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Sep 30, 2012
^
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
war,
non-fiction,
history,
biography,
outsourced,
review-liked,
books-with-101-to-1000-ratings
This is truly a book of contrasts. Here is a story that needed to be told, and which required the skills of a terrier of a competent and persistent investigative journalist to breathe life into it. Yet this book largely, but not wholly, reads as though the author struggled to sift and piece her material together to her satisfaction, let alone that of her editor.
However, I am glad that Ms Helm fully engaged in that struggle, because overall her text really is very well worth sticking with. Yes,...more
However, I am glad that Ms Helm fully engaged in that struggle, because overall her text really is very well worth sticking with. Yes,...more
This biography of Vera Atkins is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. I was amazed at the breadth and depth of Helm's research. I was amazed at the level of incompetence in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), clandestinely established by the British to place saboteurs into Europe.They were engaged in recruiting, and setting up resistance organizations as well as supporting them behind enemy lines. The ability to rationalize away grave mistakes in judgment as the result of the fog...more
Vera Atkins, the “spymistress” who sent men and women as agents to France during World War II, was a wealthy Anglophile Jewish woman in Romania who ended up trying to assimilate in England and becoming den mother to a legion of undercover operatives in France. This biography of Atkins is better even than the novels of Alan Furst! The book conveys the author’s heroic effort to excavate the truth about Vera’s life and also about the agents, many of whom landed right into the arms of the Germans an...more
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Helm painstakingly reconstructs the life of a reclusive, difficult, secretive person and her actions as an agent of the SOE, almost too well, because the bulk of the book is exhaustive accounts of SOE missions and the intricate organization of the cells in France, which bog down out of sheer numbers of tragedies I already knew. The missing part, which, because of Atkins' own personality, we may never know, is how recruiting and coaching people to go o...more
May 11, 2008
Leslie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like WWII memoirs, espionage, strong women
Ooof - this is a long, detailed, sometimes disturbing but always fascinating account of Vera Atkins' work with female SOE agents both during the war, and after. She spent a great deal of time post-war tracking down and interviewing witnesses on both sides of the war who could provide details of her missing female agents, and their ultimate demise.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A potentially very interesting subject, as my first book dealing with the SOE, an eye opener in a lot of ways and clearly based on some very exhaustive research, but for some reason I found it a real slog to get through, the author perhaps tries to tell too much, about too many, and it all starts to get very convoluted. No doubt a fair reflection on how complex it got for the agents and the organisation during and after the war itself, but not something I felt I could carry on with. Excess of in...more
This is the true story of Britain's Special Operations Executive and how, after World War II, its "spy mistress" went in search of her missing agents. Clearly, "A Life in Secrets" has all the makings of a great book, but it never quite engaged me. For one thing, the protagonist, the austere, self-absorbed Vera Atkins, is not very likable. Plus, the SOE -- sort of a kid sister to MI6 -- was filled with incompetents at the staff level, and this is the reason so many of Atkins' agents went missing....more
I could not put this book down and it was not even remotely near what I thought it would be. If you are looking for accounts of women that were in the SOE... this is not a read for you. If you are looking for the British account of SOE that is shrouded in secrecy and fueled with conspiracy...look no further. I appreciated the author's investigative strive and abilitiy that must have bordered on obsessive, similar to her subject, Atkins, but driven by different motives. Helm's own conflict with t...more
Great Britain formed the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a reaction to the Panic of 1940, in order to execute espionage activities behind enemy lines. In 1942, Col Collin Gubbins received unofficial authority to send women into combat zones as couriers. It was thought Nazis would be less likely to bodily search women and women could devise logical explanations as to why they were on the move as opposed to men who would be readily searched and conscripted. Women were so successful in their...more
From Barnes & Noble:
From an award-winning journalist comes this real-life cloak-and-dagger tale of Vera Atkins, one of Britain’s premiere secret agents during World War II.
As the head of the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive, Vera Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored special operatives whose job was to organize and arm the resistance in Nazi-occupied France. After the war, Atkins courageously committed herself to a dangerous search for twelve of her most cherished...more
From an award-winning journalist comes this real-life cloak-and-dagger tale of Vera Atkins, one of Britain’s premiere secret agents during World War II.
As the head of the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive, Vera Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored special operatives whose job was to organize and arm the resistance in Nazi-occupied France. After the war, Atkins courageously committed herself to a dangerous search for twelve of her most cherished...more
I picked up this book with high hopes, but after reading it I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. I was hoping for an in-depth biography of Vera Atkins, a woman who was very high up in the British spy organization SOE during the second world war. Instead, the book concentrates on the women she sent into France to spy during the war and her search to find them or discover their fates after the war. A good subject, definitely, but the author's failure to flesh out the women and her dry writing...more
This is well-written narrative non-fiction with great pacing. From a technical standpoint, I couldn't decide if I liked the author interjecting direct quotes of questions and answers from herself and interviewees. In some instances, it seemed distracting and out-of-place, while in others it was actually reasonably effective. But, I couldn't help feeling overall it was a bit lazy somehow. My other complaint was that I really wished Helm could have summed up her own picture of Vera more. Vera was...more
This book was very well researched. It included beautiful descriptions of Romania and an interesting story about Ukraine. Unfortunately it also described the terrible fate of SOE agents who were captured in France. There was a bit too much detail for me although I am glad that the story is being told. I also like that the author presented multiple view points so that the author can make up their own mind.
An incredible biography about the woman who ran all of the woman SOE agents in occupied France. Layer upon layer of investigative reporting reveals the secretive Vera Atkins and the daring, brave, tragic and amazing tales of her lost agents...and her dogged search to discover each of their fates...makes for a totally compelling story. I have so much respect for Helm's work,
The puzzling story of Vera Atkins, Jewish-Roumanian-German staff member of the French section of the Strategic Operations Executive (SOE), a British sabotage organization in WWII. After the war she investigated into how a quarter of the sections agents died. SOE is the same organizaton that Leo Marks (author of Between Silk and Cyanide) worked for as a creator of codes.
It took forever to get this read, but was well worth the time. A fascinating and haunting biography of an interesting life, cloaked in secrecy. The biographer does a superb job in organizing, parsing, and uniting all the stories that make up this book. Kudos to her for unraveling the mystery. This book is well worth reading if you're interested in covert operations in WWII, British history, women's history. It's also one of those books that starts you off on other journeys. I'll now have to read...more
About Vera Atkins and some of the first female spies sent into Nazi occupied France during WWII. Sarah Helm traveled all over collecting information that made up the details of Vera Atkins, a woman undercover from even possibly herself.
Great to read about women during WWII - but there are harsh realities inside this cover.
Great to read about women during WWII - but there are harsh realities inside this cover.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
An excellent book and well worth reading. Vera Atkins was indeed an enigma but this book tries to dispell some of the myths. What can't be denied is the work Vera Atkins put in after the war to find the missing female SOE agents that didn't return home.
A fascinating account of Vera Atkins lone search through the chaos of Allied Occupied Germany, to find out what had happened to the 12 missing female agents that had been dropped behind enemy lines , that Vera had helped to prepare for their missions.
May 10, 2007
Jenett
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in interpersonal relationships
This has turned out to be a totally fascinating book for several reasons. Vera Atkins was a fairly senior spy agent for the British government, responsible for managing agents in France, including 19 women, during WWII.
Following the war, she was insistent about tracking down what happened to her agents - and why things went wrong. Some of what's in the book is tragic and miserable (as one might expect, given that many of the lost agents ended up in death camps). What's particularly fascinating,...more
Following the war, she was insistent about tracking down what happened to her agents - and why things went wrong. Some of what's in the book is tragic and miserable (as one might expect, given that many of the lost agents ended up in death camps). What's particularly fascinating,...more
A fascinating history and biography, I learned so much!
Read my full review here on my book blog.
Available at Teton County Library, call number 940.54 Helm
Read my full review here on my book blog.
Available at Teton County Library, call number 940.54 Helm
Booooorrriiiiiing! I was hoping for a book about lots of cool spy exploits, but this book is really only focused on one woman who worked in an office for the whole war, and her personal struggles. I didn't finish it.
Really enjoyed it starting out but it bogged way down toward the end. I kept trying to finish it and finally gave up. Good writing and interesting story that could have benefited from some consolidation and cuts.
Not sure how I feel about Ms. Atkins after reading this and this account is pretty long on details in some places, but I learned a lot and was fascinated by what these mere civilians were willing to sacrifice.
Fascinating book that slowly unravels many diverse war-time mysteries related to French resistance workers and one of their main Britain-based handlers, a very reserved woman with a closed past.
It took two check-outs from the library to finish, but that tells you a lot! Having got half way through I needed to finish and went back for more. Sarah Helm is a most clever and talented woman. I can't imagine how many hours of sometimes tedious work she patiently and painstakingly put into this important record of history. What's more, she made it enjoyable and interesting to read. Her interspersed technique of chronicling her research and recording the dialogue of her encounters with contact...more
I could barely put this book down. From page one I was hooked. The stories about agents going behind Nazi lines into France were compelling, and Vera Atkin's tenactiy to discover what happened to each and every agent that did not come back was admirable. The descriptions of conditions in the prisons, camps and countries during WW II are difficult to read and accept. Then Sarah Helms goes beyond these points in history to discover what shaped Vera Atkins. Helms does not wear only rose colored gla...more
Amazing story about WWII spies for Britain, many of them of whom were women and whom went unacknowledged for decades after the war. Vera Atkins was not a spy herself, but coordinated the special group of spies. When things went terribly wrong and the Nazis captured her people, Atkins went on a personal journey, after the war, to find out what happened to each and every one.
The book is as much about her search, as it is about Atkins, who is a mysterious character herself. I found myself not likin...more
The book is as much about her search, as it is about Atkins, who is a mysterious character herself. I found myself not likin...more
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