by Manda Scott
Jones, R. V.: Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945 (Hamish Hamilton, 1978)
Mackenzie, William: The Secret History of SOE: Special Operations Executive 1940–1945 (St Ermin’s Press, 2002)
Macpherson, Sir Tommy: Behind Enemy Lines: The Autobiography of Britain’s Most Decorated Living War Hero (Mainstream Publishing, 2010)
Marks, Leo: Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s War 1941–1945 (Free Press, 1999)
Marnham, Patrick: The Death of Jean Moulin: Biography of a Ghost (John Murray, 2000)
Marshall, Bruce: The White Rabbit: The Secret Agent the Gestapo Could Not Crack (Cassell, 2007, first published 1952)
McKay, Sinclair: The Secret Life of Bletchley Park (Aurum Press, 2010)
Millar, George: Maquis: An Englishman in the French Resistance (The Dovecote Press, 2013, first published 1945)
—— The Bruneval Raid: Stealing Hitler’s Radar (Cassell, 2002, first published 1974)
—— Road to Resistance: An Autobiography (Bodley Head, 1979)
Mulley, Clare: The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of One of Britain’s Bravest Wartime Heroines (Macmillan, 2012)
O’Connor, Bernard: Churchill’s Angels: How Britain’s Women Secret Agents Changed the Course of the Second World War (Amberley, 2012)
Seymour-Jones, Carole: She Landed by Moonlight: The Story of Secret Agent Pearl Witherington: The ‘Real Charlotte Gray’ (Hodder & Stoughton, 2013)
Sheridan, Dorothy (ed.): Wartime Women: A Mass-Observation Anthology of Women’s Writing, 1937–1945 (William Heinemann, 1990)
Suttill, Francis J.: Shadows in the Fog: The True Story of Major Suttill and the Prosper French Resistance Network (The History Press, 2014)
Walters, Anne-Marie: Moondrop to Gascony (Moho Books, 2009, first published 1946)
Walters, Guy: Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and The Hunt To Bring Them To Justice (Bantam Press, 2009)
Yarnold, Patrick: Wanborough Manor: School for Secret Agents (Hopfield Publications, 2009)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Every book floats on an ocean of other people’s endeavours; of their wisdom, knowledge and forethought. This one in particular owes many debts; for the first time, I have had the novel and heart-warming experience of listening to those who lived through the times of which I write. Every conversation left me more in awe of those who lived through the conflict of ’39–’45 and more aware of the debt our generations owe to those whose lives – and deaths – were shaped by their experience.
Thus, my thanks to: Patrick Ramsay and his late wife Hope, who opened many doors to England as it was during and after the war; to Alan Laurie, who took part in Operation Phantom; to Francis Suttil, whose father served in the SOE. Most especially, undying thanks to Pat and Patricia Coles, to whom this book is dedicated, for taking me to visit SOE sites near their home on the Devil’s Punch Bowl (which bears a passing resemblance to Ridgemount), and for so much more.
Thanks also to the men and women of the SOE online group, who put such diligent effort into uncovering the details of the past, much of which is still classified and may remain so for many years to come. Particular thanks to Mark Stillman for help with the Q-codes, to Ben Jones and A. F. Judge for help with leaving dates, to Nick Fox for help with German telegrams and the fact that sources were known as Vertrauensmann, abbreviated to V-Mann, and to Martyn Cox and Stephen Kippax for help with all things SOE – and for moral support with the entire endeavour.
When I needed help on STOL (short take-off and landing) planes, Ed Weatherup was there with pictures and help, with backup from Jim Perrin, Robin Carter, Doug Taylor and Isobel Picornel; thanks to you all. Tilly Calvert kept my spine from turning chair-shaped, and told me stories of her great-uncle ‘in intelligence’ who had a ten-foot trench dug for his telephone wires in his front garden – for both of which, many thanks.
Because my French is functional at best, enormous thanks to Isobel again, to my old school friend Angie Boinaud, to Brigitte Tilleray, and particularly to Virginie Rouxel-Halloo, who read one of the later drafts and saved me from much mis-spelled embarrassment. Lorant Kácsor and Amy Weatherup both read a late draft and offered their customary humour and incisive insight.
Thanks to Major Rob Pitt and Captain Michelle Roberts, both of whom showed me what it is to live in the modern army with integrity, zest, compassion, intelligence and forethought. In addition, Rob showed me what fortitude can achieve, while Michelle taught me about rolling over car bonnets in close protection duties.
Thanks to Mark Lucas of LAW Agency, for planting the seed from which the entire tree grew, and for watering it diligently through many drafts; to my editors Bill Scott-Kerr and Darcy Nicholson for the dedication to keep going through the many drafts it takes to bring two timelines into harmony; and particularly to Claire Gatzen and Vivien Thompson for astonishing acts of fortitude in the copy-editing process. Thanks also to Patsy Irwin and the entire team at Transworld for once again picking up where the writing stops and making the book fly.
To my partner, Faith, as always, my love and thanks for three years of patience and inspiration. You are the guiding light of my life.
A final thanks to the faculty and students of Schumacher College, particularly my fellow classmates in the Masters in Economics year of 2016/17, who put up with my tendency to vanish for prolonged periods with the excuse that I had a book to write. Which was true. May you all enjoy it.
Manda Scott
Shropshire, January 2018
The final draft of this work is ready for submission and I have just learned that the man for whom Patrick is named, and on whom much of Laurence’s character is based – a man of absolute integrity – has died. Patrick Coles was one of my greatest and oldest friends. The epitome of an English gentleman, he was the soul of decency, courage, intelligence, tact and compassion. It is an enormous sorrow that he did not live to see this book to completion, but he helped with a great deal of the writing. And so to Patrick, my heartfelt love and thanks, may you rest ever in peace; and to his wife, now widow, Patricia, who is as full of grace, beauty and intelligence as Sophie – if not quite as lethal – my never-ending love.
1 September 2017
About the Author
Also by Manda Scott
HEN’S TEETH
NIGHT MARES
STRONGER THAN DEATH
NO GOOD DEED
BOUDICA: DREAMING THE EAGLE
BOUDICA: DREAMING THE BULL
BOUDICA: DREAMING THE HOUND
BOUDICA: DREAMING THE SERPENT SPEAR
THE CRYSTAL SKULL
2012: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE
ROME: THE EMPEROR’S SPY
ROME: THE COMING OF THE KING
ROME: THE EAGLE OF THE TWELFTH
ROME: THE ART OF WAR
INTO THE FIRE
For more information on Manda Scott and her books, see her website at www.mandascott.co.uk
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
www.penguin.co.uk
Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Manda Scott 2018
Cover design by Richard Ogle/TW
Map copyright © Tom Coulson at Encompass Graphics
Manda Scott has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the approp
riate acknowledgements in any future edition.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448169047
ISBN 9780593072288
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2