Looking for Trouble

By: Virginia Cowles

Narrated by: Kelly Burke

This sensational 1941 memoir of life on the frontline of wartime Europe by a trailblazing female reporter is an 'unforgettable' (The Times) rediscovered classic, introduced by Christina Lamb

Paris as it fell to the Nazis
London on the first day of the Blitz
Madrid in the Spanish Civil War
Prague during the Munich crisis
Berlin the day Germany invaded Poland
Helsinki as the Russians attacked
Moscow betrayed by the Germans
Virginia Cowles has seen it all.

As a pioneering female correspondent, she reported from Europe from the 1930s into the Second World War, watching 'the lights in the death-chamber go out one by one' from the frontline - always in the right place at the right time.

Flinging off her heels under shellfire; meeting Hitler ('an inconspicuous little man') and the 'dapper' Mussolini; gossiping with Churchill by his goldfish pond or dancing in the bomb-blasted Ritz; reading The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism on a Soviet train or eating reindeer with guerrilla skiers ... Introduced by Christina Lamb, Cowles' incredible dispatches will make you an eyewitness to the twentieth-century as you have never experienced it before.

' An amazingly brilliant reporter ... One of the most engrossing [books] the war has produced.' New York Times Book Review

©2022 Virginia Cowles (P)2022 Faber & Faber

What a life!

What an amazing time to be witness to history in Spain, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy, Finland, Russia and the UK prior to and during the Second World War as well as the Spanish Civil War

a close view of history

Similar in many ways to William Shirer who was also a journalist during these decades, Virgina describes people, places and events with a shrewd eye that gives the listener an almost intimate perspective on these historical times. She name drops Churchill, Hemingway, Hitler, Mussolini, Goebbels, Philby, and many others as she takes us through the Spanish Civil War, Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany and the events leading to the Fall of France. Written in 1941, her book must have been a wake-up call for many readers, although not enough to avert the ensuing tragedy. The narrator has a slight lisp which is a little distracting at the start but easily ignored once the adventures of this courageous woman begin. Highly recommended.

Why is it that nobody follows this amazing writer?

At the start of the book Young and fearless American Virginia Cowles finds herself with Hemingway and others in Madrid during the Spanish Civil war. Her description of Madrid of the time is unique, and I live in Madrid to testify. From there it goes on from adventure to adventure, all narrated in her unique voice. I strongly recommend this book which will give you not the history of the time but the sensation of being there. Read it!

Undying courage prevails

Never a moment without writing and living for a cause. A superb memory of history leading up to ww11.