The Spy Who Came in from the Sea

by Peggy Nolan

Fourteen-year old Frank Hollahan moves to Florida in 1943, at the height of World War II, to join his father, a navy seaman. When Frank and his mother arrive at the busy naval port of Jacksonville, a surprising new life awaits them. In this new place, Frank's life changes in ways he never imagined. In his new school, his tendency toward exaggeration quickly builds him a reputation as a teller of tales. He wanders to the beach one night and sees what seems to be a man coming ashore from a submarine. When he informs his family, friends, and teachers that he saw a spy from a German U-boat land on the local beach, no one believes him. Is the spy real, or is he only a part of Frank's imagination and exaggeration? Frank is certain the spy has plans for sabotage. With the aid of Rosemarie Twekenberry, who has eyes only for Frank, and a mysterious beach recluse known as Weird Wanda, Frank sets out to prove the spy's existence. With time running out, Frank must figure out a way to stop him. Each rumor and discovery—whether a buried chest, a secret code, or a mysterious note—presents new problems. The truth finally comes to light at the big bond rally in the shipyard as Frank's class presents a rousing patriotic program, led by Mr. Jolly, an ex-clown turned teacher. Thrown into the mix are a brash, redheaded student named Howard; Gladys, the organizer; and other zany characters who all join in the tangled web of this wartime mystery, based on an actual occurrence. The spy who came in from the sea ends up teaching Frank—and the people of Jacksonville—valuable lessons about friendship, perseverance, and the power of the truth.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery

140 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

The Spy Who Came in from the Sea is Peggy Nolan's first novel. Her short stories and poems have won prizes and appeared in a number of magazines. A graduate of the University of Miami, Peggy resides in Florida with her husband and belongs to the Writer's Round Table of St. Petersburg.

Reviews

[Shea I.]

I really enjoyed reading this World War 2 book. The Book had many creative Characters including Wierd Wanda who the main character Frank meets on the beach. Frank also had an humorous sense of stretching the truth a little too much. This had a lot of impact on gaining trust from friends, family, and prety much anybody who knew him. When he actually does tell the truth, poeople don't belive him. He seemed determined to convince them to belive him. Although, he was pretty much alone on this besides his friends Wanda & Rosemarie. I think trust was a main part of this book. One question I have for the author is why Wanda always stuttered when she spoke. It was a Main idea of the story. :)

[Lacey Bourne]

3.5-4 ⭐️ Read with my youngest girls for our Florida History lessons. It was an interesting and overall fun read. I didn’t know about the U-boats attacking US ships along the FL coast during WW2!

[Garrett B.]

I thought that Peggy Nolan did a great job writing this book; she used some many details that kept you reading and made this book unbelievable suspenseful. This book is mainly about this boy named Frank who goes to see his papa (dad) who is in the navy and is off right now but when they get to Florida something happened and he had to go out to see so Frank and his mom weren’t so happy. After that they found a small house which use to be an old chicken Koop and planned to stay there until papa returned. When they were there Frank was out on the beach one night and thought he saw a German U-boat, and a spy come onto the shore carrying a large chest (which he did but nobody believed him, not even his mother, because Frank had an history of stretching the truth). The only people that believed him were weird Wanda and Rosemarie. And throughout the book Frank ended up really liking Rosemarie. So they all became really good friends. They started to become like detectives (like the Scooby doo gang) and they started to uncover that he really was a spy. And in the end they caught the German spy who was trying to bomb different places. So Frank was not made that nobody believed him but wished they had in the long run. Also Frank went to the beach wishing his papa could be here and you wouldn’t believe what he saw, Frank saw his dad’s boat coming in to palm harbor and so they raced over to meet him and did Frank have a story to tell him.

[Sidney]

Set near Jacksonville, FL, during WWII, this book captures the patriotism of the time, the fact that German spies did land in the United States, and the character of Frank, a kid who loves to stretch the truth. Thanks Cecilia!

[Edith Blu]

I did not connect with this story at all. There wasn't much foreshadowing and I guessed the ending about halfway through the book. Had this not been a class assignment, I wouldn't have read it in the first place.

[1+1=42 (Math)]

I want this book

[Ryan]

this book is really good it is a mystersty where frank gets laughed at for sayinga spy landed and no one belives him until they have the spy in cuffs....... dum dum dum dum...

[Devi N.]

This book was a great mystery and was very intense at times. But it kept me reading. Also Frank is an interesting character because he always brags about how great he is at everything.

[Dawn Roberts]

Cute, not great.