A Life in Secrets

Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII

De: Sarah Helm

Narrado por: Nicola Barber

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 12 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.

©2008 Sarah Helm (P)2018 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Brilliant...One can only admire the way that Helm put together all the pieces of the puzzle.” (The Washington Post)

“Fascinating...Compelling...Gripping...A stupendous job of reporting.” (The New York Times)

“Helm's account is a chilling reminder of the ghastliness of WWII.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Much information about the history and workings of the Special Operations Executive during World War II

Rather too long. Would have liked first half, i.e. wartime, to have been longer, and the post- war part shorter.

we will never know much of what she knew/did

This was subject matter I would not have expected to choose or care a thing about. I became aware of Vera from the 30+ hours of Sarah Helm's thorough history of Ravensbruck (concentration camp for women). She was a Romanian born British intelligence officer who worked in the France section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during WWII. While espionage has captivated many, Ian Fleming's James Bond fans to name just some, Miss Atkins' story was deep & interesting beyond her short time in a leadership role from London during the war. It stretches from her childhood in Romania across many countries & decades & characters. This woman had an intimate personal view of the inside of goings on in a complex time. Unfortunately much of her story died with her in 2000, but, following in the footsteps of others who followed it somewhat earlier, this author tireless dug for evidence & drew some conclusions of her own that are very thought provoking & entertaining to hear.

Vera Atkins continues to be a bit of a mstery

What a revelation of SOE, Buckmaster, Atkins and many others who were involved in espionage in WWII. The bravery of the SOE agents was amazing. I'm not sure how well-served they were by their handlers. Atkins' determination to learn the fates of the agents and especially the women was remarkable. But I was left wondering about her actual motives. Helm did a great job of researching this history.

An exemplary work of research and journalism.

The book was not at all what I expected, but one cannot but admire the hard work of research and writing facility of the author. Vera Atkins remains a fascinating enigma, as do many of the major players in the book .Ms Helm conclusions , though entirely subjective, are well supported by her prose. There has been much written by other authors of this time in history and of the SOE and it is unrealistic to expect a consensus of these who existed in a cloak of secrecy. The narrator , Nicola Barber , was superb.

Awesome

Now I want to listen to it again. So many details, it’s hard to follow initially. So many threads to unravel. Interesting. Intriguing.

the spy handler...

as the story went along it was very interesting as to how the trail of following each agent, and yet to look to see what happened to her four female agents all the way to the end of the war and post war.

Excellent but sad

This is a book full of heroes, bravery, brutality, pain and secrets. I wish their story were more well known. I truly hope their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Vera Atkins- wow! Amazing life!

Very well researched biography for a person who might be described as the Queen of secrets. Deep dive in the SOE during wartime, the failures and what happened to them all. I cried at the end. Vera was a tough nut but kick ass in my opinion.

A life in secrets

I know the story of Vera Atkins and very much wanted to listen to this book. Narrator has an obvious lisp which is very annoying. Did not finish the book,

The quality of the author's research was remarkable.

I particularly liked the questions posed by the author along the way, some of them duplicates of my own.