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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Espionage, Philosophy, Fiction

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

[Kel Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to experience this book.
I listened to the audio book, the narration was easy to listen to a created great characters.
The story is set around the start of WW2 and centres on some young philosophers who go on to work in intelligence.
A great story with some wonderful historical references, friendship, love, adventure and daring.
Easy to listen to but not as easy to put down.

[Christine Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two women who were philosophy students at university become code breakers/ spies in the Second World War. The author tells a good story yet sometimes his enthusiasm to bring the reader into the era feels a bit contrived; as if he’s been through history books to locate specifics germane to the time. This can be endearing but it can be distracting from what is a fairly pleasant and easy read.

[Simon Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting and engaging story about World War 2 intelligence and in particular the role of 2 female Oxford graduates in supporting the war effort. Their struggle to persuade an inflexible, patriarchal establishment of the validity of what they had found was all too plausible.
My slight difficulty with the book was despite the intellectual gravitas of the main characters - both men and women; I found them quite frivolous and self-absorbed. As a consequence I didn’t feel any real emotional link to any of them, so as the events unfolded I felt quite dispassionate about the individual impact on them, whilst retaining an interest in the central plot.
Pedantically I’d also point out that Abingdon didn’t become part of Oxfordshire until the 1970s.
I have been a big of Rob Newman’s comedy for years, but this is the first of his novels that I’ve read. There was certainly sufficient in this to make me want to look out his other books.

[Jason Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligence
by Robert Newman

Well, here’s a thing: philosophy at war.
Against the Hun, how fares the old Oxonian?
What use the abstract problems they explore
In Bodleian, All Souls and old Sheldonian?
Intelligence, it seems, is not identical
To sophistry and glibness Ciceronian,
For moral sense extends its feeling tentacle
To eyes in skies and hand grenades chthonian.

Every page wears telling detail lightly:
Reconnaissance of minds and foreign fields;
Dons dispatched from dens, who bear it brightly,
Alert to what their urgent digging yields:
Joy and sorrow, death to Tom and Jerry,
The tangled needs of Ida, Glyn and Merry.

[Christiaan van Lennep · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful weekend read pulling the reader into a world of intelligence and unexpected turns.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Intelligence’ follows Oxford philosophers from theoretical debate to being confronted by those same dilemmas through the course of WWII.

The cast of characters was easily distinguishable due to the narrator and there were parts of the narrative that were amusing and engaging. Largely, I found the plot quite thin and I didn’t find myself emotionally invested in the characters which ultimately impacted the landing of the ending for me.


via NetGalley

[Blasr · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Bit too self-indulgent (quote upon quote upon quote from highbrow authors). I couldn’t warm to the characters. But there were some interesting snippets about both MI units & life in London during WWII. Surprised to find the same real person (Ken(rick) Snakehips Johnson) turn up as a character after he did so in “The Country House Murders" by Friday Turner. Same incident related in both books.

[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!

[Gemma Ralph · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may have unfairly rated this book too low on account of choosing a genre which just wasn’t suited to me. The writing is fluid and well researched, but I feel the reader is required to have a beyond average understanding of WWII and standard war terms in order to properly digest this book. Very little explanation is given of what is happening, and it wouldn’t have hurt the author to scatter simple short sentences throughout instead of each line being clunky and containing German phrases.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot. A fast paced adventure with kick-ass, clever women working in intelligence during WW2. It made me think of those Girl's Own Adventure cartoon strips that I used to read in comics when I was a child, full of daring-do.

[Nikki LB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure whether this would really be my thing given that it’s set and partly about WW2 but I really enjoyed it. The characters, Ida in particular, were fun even during the backdrop of the war. Some of the philosophical references were a bit beyond me but not enough to detract from the story.

[Tom Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure William Boyd was reading the same book as me☹️☹️

[Gary Varga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read. It was intelligent, educational, heartwarming, funny, and painful.

This book moved me at times. I certainly felt for the characters in all sorts of ways.

[Nicole Edbrooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophical

[Kholoud · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pompous and awful. Like it was written for children who went to Oxford

[Beth Fisher · Rating 1 out of 5]

This wasn’t for me, unfortunately. I just found it disengaging and hard to follow.

[Niki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of this book, but with all the philosophy and name-dropping of war time brands it became a bit of a slog and the ending wasn’t satisfying enough to justify it

[Christine · Rating 1.5 out of 5]

I needed an understanding of philosophy (that I don’t have) to enjoy this

[Verity Halliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligence is about young Oxford academics who are called up to do intelligence work at the beginning of World War II. I liked the characters, but didn't feel as immersed in the feeling of war that I hoped. On more than one occasion, characters looked out of a window into the night while working, which made me wonder why they didn't have blackout enforced in government buildings.

Nevertheless, an interesting read, with good narration in the audiobook.

[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.

[Dogeared · 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.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set at the start of WW2 this follows a group of friends who end up working together in intelligence. The characters were great but I wanted to feel more of a connection to them.

Overall this was a pretty enjoyable and fast paced read.