Customer Reviews

Life in Secrets

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I first became aware of the problems with the sending of agents into France during World War II when reading Leo Marks excellent book 'Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945.' As a quick summary, the average time that a radio operator remained free from the Nazi's was six weeks.

This excellently researched and written book on Vera Atkins has an excellent title. Vera Atkins truly lived a Life In Secrets. Although she was a Romanian Jew, she managed to get around the Enemy Alien status that should have kept her out of the war. She started as a secretary in the SOE, and grew to be the 'heart and brains' of the organization which worked to drop agents into occupied France.

The bulk of the book though is on her work after the war as she sought down the information about what happened to the 100+ agents who never returned. She was able to track all but one (who was last seen, it is rumored, leaving a casino in Monte Carlo, with $3 million in SOE money).

This is a fascinating story and belongs on the shelf of any World War II book collection.

I completely agree. A very fair history of the women of the SOE, with fascinating, but not fictionalised insights into the unusual life of Vera Atkins.
Retrospectively, some of the SOE's blunders seem unbelievable, but this honest and detailed account shows how mistakes were made in the most difficult circumstances in an unbiased and very human fashion.
The book tackles many aspects of the Second World War, including its progression into Eastern Europe and the effect of the "Iron Curtain" upon the War Crimes Trials, as well as the admirable women who have earned their place in history. Special attention is paid to some of the more engaging characters, such as Noor Inayat Kahn, whose story is moving and gripping; but the central character is Vera, and as Helm follows the process of Vera's life and involvement with the SOE, Vera searches for traces of her lost girls, and the book becomes not just a historical account but also a mystery.
Excellent stuff!

I had read extracts from this book in various newspaper supplements, prompting me to purchase this book. I did not expect to be completely enthralled! This biography, and to some extent, expose, of Vera Atkins and SOE, is a must read for anyone interested in the second world war and espionage.

Vera Atkins, part of the French Section of the Special Operations Executive was partly responsible for the insertion of over four hundred agents into Occupied France. As many did not return, Vera Atkins travelled across Europe, almost single-handedly, to personally find out what had happened to them. The trail often ended in the concentration camps of Natzweiler, Dachau and Ravensbruck.

As a newcomer to this subject, my eyes were often wide open in shock at the actions of SOE and its members - alternatively in admiration and in disbelief.

Sarah Helm's investigation into Vera Atkins peels back layer by layer, just as Atkins herself delved deeper and deeper into the whereabouts of her 'lost' agents. The discoveries are shocking and harrowing, and Sarah Helm cleverly takes the reader along the same path of investigation as Vera herself must have taken. Often the wealth of information that is provided in the course of both investigations is sometimes overwhelming. But it serves to demonstrate the extreme determination and committment of both women in discovering the truth.

Highly recommended!

Sarah Helm obviously has considerable enthusiasm for her subject, and she paints a brave picture of a strong woman (Vera) who lived a life of denial on a number of levels. Vera denied her own name, her own upbringing and found a natural home in the world of the British Secret Service, although she later discovered just how quickly they abandoned their own people in search of the greater good, whatever that means...You get a real sense of the ineptitude and callousness of British Military Intelligence and it is to Vera Atkions' huge credit that she ignored what everyone was telling her when the war was over and went out to search for the bravest of the brave who risked their lives when they really, really didn't have to. These were men and women from interesting backgrounds, in many cases independently wealthy or beautiful but who were brushed under the carpet as 'mistakes' faster than a speeding bullet. Vera found them and it's right her story should be told. At times the book does lack pace but then it is a factual, piecing-together of what happened.

This was a well researched book which was full of surprises. The most significant one was that Vera Atkins was not British and should have been incarcerated along with other aliens at the beginning of World War 2. This obviously shows that having connections in high places can lead to favoured positions. The section dealing with her connectionism with the Nazis regarding one of her relatives was on the weak side. How did she get to Holland? The book also shows the incompetence of SOE French Section under Maurice Buckmaster.

it was well written with a good and exciting flow to it. Sarah Helm should be complimented for her work.