| A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII |  | Author: Sarah Helm
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
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Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 125,965
Media: Paperback
Pages: 544
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400031400
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.548641092
EAN: 9781400031405
ASIN: 1400031400
Publication Date: December 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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 women spies who had gone missing in action. Drawing on previously unavailable sources, Sarah Helm chronicles Atkins’s extraordinary life and her singular journey through the chaos of post-war Europe. Brimming with intrigue, heroics, honor, and the horrors of war, A Life in Secrets is the story of a grand, elusive woman and a tour de force of investigative journalism.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 A amazing story of War-time March 28, 2010
M. E. Newell (Georgia, United States)
"A Life in Secrets" by Sarah Helm is the true story of Vera Atkins. Vera Atkins headed up French Section fo the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Vera helped to find, trained civilians that were sent to France to work with the resistance who were fighting the Nazi. But all of the agents came home. And after the war, Vera would go herself the Europe to find out what happen to them.
"A Life in Secrets" was a great book. Ms. Helm clearly did her research, while the detail that was used cannot be denied, the book seem to drag in the end and I was ready for it be over. Any fan of World War 2 history with this book and the history that is not known to many people
 Infuriating August 26, 2009
Marianne
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kudos to Sarah Helm for keeping her emotions in check while writing this book: her research is never less than painstaking. But what comes through most clearly, at least IMHO, is that Vera Atkins had very personal reasons for doing what she did, reasons which had nothing to do with "love of country" but everything to do with making herself look good. This included destroying potentially incriminating material in her files, and suppressing names of female agents in subsequent Nazi trials (even though the families of the agents expressed a desire to make their daughters' names public, as a way to honor their contributions to the war effort) And her boss, the head of the SOE spy network, was a total incompetent who should have been brought to task after the war for causing the deaths of so many agents.
Very fine book.. July 11, 2009
Almost 50 Lassie fan (IN)
I know the logical question, given my heading, is why 4, rather than 5, stars? I perhaps am not being fair to the author. From the reader's perspective, this fascinating book still has signifigant gaps in Vera Atkins's life. I honestly suspect, however, that is due to her past in Europe being partially "expunged" by people tied to her, to aid her in her work as the head of spy networks (especially of women) in England during WW II. And let's face it, spies spend so much time lying--at least by omission--that even THEY have difficulty years later remembering what "the truth" is. Expecting a spy (one who was in deep for a long time, or controlled as Vera did others who were) to be honest--even in their own papers, let alone perhaps one interview the author had with Vera before her death--is an oxymoron. If female spies captivate you, or their history does, from WW II, you will enjoy this book. The author went to great trouble to research every possible item she could find info on--whether in Vera's papers after her death, from interviews with those who knew Vera, worked with or for Vera. The gaps are really unavoidable, but regretable. For any reader, Vera Atkins will remain, in large part, an enigma. Profiling her today would not be an easy task; accuracy would be very difficult to assess. I enjoyed this book. To further explore Madelaine from this book, I would recommend Spy Princess by Shrabani Basu. One gains a quite different perspective, perhaps, about Madelaine than Vera wished to leave. I would forewarn any reader that the outcome for many of these women dropped into France was horrific at the hands of the Nazis. It is not reading for the "faint of heart".
Riveting WWII History May 9, 2009
Caitlin Martin (East Bay, CA)
This history of Vera Atkins & her search for her missing agents after D-Day was absolutely riveting - not a word I use often. Well-written, cogent, unblinking - this is worth the read.
Vera Atkins was the head of the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. This group recruited, trained, & dropped volunteers behind enemy lines during the war. These volunteers, many of whom were young women, parachuted behind enemy lines & established & operated "circuits" of agents who worked against the Germans in various ways.
After the war a number of these people simply didn't show up again & Ms. Atkins appears to have been one of the only people who felt it was her duty to find what happened to them. Higher ups in the British government at the time did not want, for instance, to release the names of these people to the International Red Cross & other relief agencies working with war refugees as it was felt that to do so would be a) to admit they were spying, & b) that they sent women behind enemy lines.
The story of Ms. Atkins' pursuit of the fates of these people combines with the story of the author's pursuit of the story of Vera Atkins as the focus of the book. There is a lot of information here that is pretty horrifying. Ms. Atkins was finally given permission to research the fate of these people only after survivor stories told of four of the women being put into the crematorium alive.
Equally horrific is the knowledge that the fate of these people was practically guaranteed by the stupidity and short-sightedness of many of the leaders at the SOE who ignored strong evidence that their circuits had been compromised & continued to parachute people into France - often directly into the hands of the Gestapo who were waiting for them.
Ms. Atkins is throughout an enigmatic and mysterious figure who certainly had plenty of reasons to sell the heroism of her group and their agents. The story of these people is, however, full of simple moments of heroism and the years that Ms. Atkins spent discovering their fate were well-spent.
 Fantastic Book! May 2, 2009
Girl next door (Sonoma, CA)
Oh for heavens sake people, blah, blah, blah! The book was excellent. You don't have to be English or European to appreciate a well written and suspensful story!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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