I hope whoever finds this book enjoys it!

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It is 1939. Eva Delectorskaya is a beautiful 28-year-old Russian emigree living in Paris. As war breaks out she is recruited for the British Secret Service by Lucas Romer, a mysterious Englishman, and under his tutelage she learns to become the perfect spy, to mask her emotions, and trust no one, including those she loves most. Since the war, Eva has carefully rebuilt her life as a typically English wife and mother. But once a spy, always a spy. Now she must complete one final assignment, and this time Eva can't do it alone: she needs her daughter's help.

RELEASE NOTES:


At the meet from 12.30 pm on Sat 17 may - everyone is welcome!
If this is your introduction to Bookcrossing, welcome. Please make as few or as many comments about the book as you wish. The book is now yours to do with as you choose. Keep it, pass it on, but please leave the label, so it can keep in touch with us. If you would like to know what happens to the book after you have passed it on, then do join - it's free, private and it's fun!
And if you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me molyneux, as your referring member.

Snaffled from the table at the meet up at The Cherry Tree, Steventon, Oxfordshire, earlier today. I would add it to my to-be-read pile, but there are so many books in front of it that I can't reach it!

I loved this - and it's quite a while since I've said that about a modern fiction book! Once I'd started, I just couldn't put it down as I was drawn between Oxford in the 1970s and the underworld of British Intelligence in the early days of the second world war. I don't want to say too much about the story because in this book much of the suspense is around what happens next, or what happened last. What I can say is that it's clever, involved, beautifully written, elegant and credible. And slowly, slowly, those two very worlds are drawn together into a satisfying climax, with just an element of overblown, and very human, humour. Best read of the year so far.

Read July 2008

I passed this book on to a friend at work, who may recommend it for her bookclub.