Intelligence: 'Wonderfully feisty and beguiling' WILLIAM BOYD

by Robert Newman

'Wonderfully feisty and beguiling' William Boyd, bestselling author of GABRIEL'S MOON

Was he about to offer her a job in the secret service? She held her breath. Frogwoman, codebreaker, assassin, saboteur - whatever it was, she'd do it!

Oxford, 1938. Ida and Medora are two brilliant young philosophers at the heart of a group who gather in storied rooms to dance, drink and debate theories of right and wrong.

But as the world spins towards war, theoretical questions of life and death become all too real. While her friends are called up to do intelligence work, Ida, the irrepressible Texan outsider, seeks academic distraction. Then she stumbles across secret Nazi information that could radically change the direction of the war. Can she and Medora capture the attention of the spymasters and mandarins in London in time to save thousands of lives?

Seductive, witty and page-turning, Intelligence is the unputdownable new novel from one of the UK's best-loved writers and comedians.

Audible Audio

Published March 5, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Robert ("Rob") Newman (born 7 July 1964) is a British stand-up comedian, author and political activist. In 1993 Newman and his then comedy partner David Baddiel became the first comedians to play and sell out the 12,000-seat Wembley Arena in London. He was born to a Greek Cypriot father and British mother.

Newman's first speaking appearance was with Third World First (now known as People and Planet), the student political organisation. In addition to comedy and writing, he has also worked as a paperboy in Whitwell, Hertfordshire, farmhand, warehouse-man, house-painter, teacher, mail sorter, social worker, mover, and broadcaster.

Reviews

[Susan J. Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this story from start to finish. Beginning at the build up to WW2, Ida (a lively and expressive Texan) and Merry (a wealthy and practical Brit) are at Oxford amongst a group of intellectual young philosophers, constantly crashing up against the proverbial glass ceiling and challenges presented by old-school-tie cronyism. As war breaks out, they find themselves sidelined while all the men in their circle are recruited to the intelligence services. When they each encounter information that could alter the course of the war, their biggest challenge is to find a man who’ll take them seriously.
What I loved: Ida, Merry, their wit, gumption and quick thinking. These are exactly the type of women you want as your ride or dies. I loved Alix Dunmore’s excellent narration, which made the gals and chaps leap off the page. It was a joy to listen to.
What I didn’t love: absolutely nothing. Five big shiny ones from me. Probably my favourite book so far this year.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and to Profile Books Audio for the chance to listen to an ALC/ARC. Intelligence released on 5 March, and if you love a wartime story, I urge you to grab a copy pronto!

[Bryony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, but I found the pacing off, there were several tangents to the main plot of the intelligence grabbing about German forces. It was definitely a style adopted and it wasn't bad, it is just not one I prefer. I enjoyed some of these tangents and there were definitely debates in there that were important.

I enjoyed the characters though, I think it represents the unsung heroes of world war 2, the ones who did the intelligence grabbing but in secret without a fan fair for the good of the country. The ending gave me a tear in my eye, and again representative of people who did this work and then came to an untimely end.

[Beachcomber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I expected to like this more, from the description, and couldn’t really work out why it didn’t quite spark for me. I think there were a number of tangents as another reviewer said, and maybe I just found my attention wandering so that I didn’t manage to keep the characters and timings as straight in my head. It was OK and worth a read, but nothing particularly stood out for me.

I received a free ARC audiobook of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.