Weekly Reader: The Flames of Resistance: Women Spies of World War II by Kit Sergeant; Sergeant's Darkest and Best True Spy Thriller Yet

 

Weekly Reader: The Flames of Resistance: Women Spies of World War II by Kit Sergeant; Sergeant's Darkest and Best True Spy Thriller Yet

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Normally, I don't emphasize spoilers when a historical fiction novel involves real historical people as the protagonists. There's no point when all the Reader has to do is look up the information on the Internet. But Flames of Resistance: Women Spies of World War II is an entirely different beast from Kit Sergeant's other Historical Fiction novels about female spies. It's darker than the others by far and  some of the most compelling things about the book are how those dark aspects are written. So, I am going to repeat this has some  MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!

With all of Sergeant's Female Spies novels, there is always a feeling of suspense: a realization that every moment that these women live through could be their last. They work amidst war, violence, and dehumanization of those who are considered "The Enemy." Some are dehumanized themselves or fall into that propaganda mindset. They suffer great hardship, separation from loved ones, deaths of those closest to them, and imprisonment and torture. All of this while they use deception, brilliance, and subterfuge to deliver information to their  allies. 

However, in all of Sergeant's previous novels only one of her selected protagonists is killed in the line of duty: M'greet Gertrude Zeller MacLeod AKA Mara Hari in L'Agent Double: Spies and Martyrs of The Great War. She was executed by firing squad. 

 Not bad considering the series covers so far four books that cover almost 200 years of history and four major wars. However, Sergeant's second World War II era novel and fifth novel total seeks to break that record in the most horrific, disturbing, and heart wrenching of ways. This is the one that reveals the courage and dedication that comes with fighting to defend one's country from invasion and the ultimate sacrifice that is often waiting in the end.

In Sparks of Resistance, Sergeant covered the early years of WWII when the French Resistance was formed by combining several small groups of spies, saboteurs, rebels, and activists into one large supergroup that hides in the shadows and uses intelligence, espionage, and covert activities to fight Hitler's tyranny. Unfortunately, that group suffered a serious setback when Mathilde "La Chatte" Lily-Carre, one of the main organizers, was arrested, forced to turn traitor, and become a double agent to save her own skin. The original group Internationalle fizzled out because of the deception.

This novel is set in the middle of the War when Resistance is at an all time high and many are willing to join, even some who would have looked the other way a couple of years prior. Four women are the focus who take part in the fight against Hitler and his Nazis. As before, they are different, ages, status, lifestyles, races, and outlooks but they are all united for a cause.

Those women are:

Yvonne Rudellat -Yvonne is the first female agent trained by the newly formed  Special Operations Executive to enter France (A predecessor Virginia Hall arrived before but she was American and entered the country as a journalist.) A divorcee and single mother, Yvonne is often older than the other female agents and takes an almost maternal role with them. 

She is also one tough lady that you do not want to mess with. Her first arrival into France is not a pleasure cruise as she and a colleague arrive in a small boat through the rushing water and in the dead of night.

She also reveals much strength and toughness as she studies and prepares explosives for sabotage. Yvonne also is often paired in the field with Pierre Culioli, an agent with whom she has a love-hate relationship that evolves into a mutual respect and admiration for each other, even a potential romance.

Andree Borrel-A young woman who had been recruited as a nurse, Andree is tomboyish and scrappy. She comes from a lower class background and has an earthier sassy attitude as compared to many of her upper class fellow agents. For entrances, she one ups Yvonne. She is the first female agent to parachute into France. 

She works mostly as a courier for the Prosper circuit alongside Francis Suttill and wireless operator Gilbert Norman. The three even become a known trio, with Andree and Gilbert becoming lovers.

Andree has a young, more spirited nature that sometimes gets her in trouble and unfortunately puts right her in the path of treachery and betrayal.

Noor Inayat Khan-Of the agents, Noor had an interesting family background that could have filled its own book. Her father,  Inayat Khan was an Indian Muslim and descendant of hereditary nobles and musicians. His great great grandfather was the ruler of Mysore, making Noor a princess. Her mother was an American who left her family behind and changed her name to wed Inayat who earned a living as a Sufi musician. 

Noor herself has a talent for music, art, and literature.  She was also a Sufi musician and children's books author and illustrator. One of her most popular books was Twenty Jataka Tales, an anthology of stories inspired by Jataka legends from the Buddhist tradition.

Noor left that privileged and cultural life behind to join first the Women's Auxiliary Air Force then the SOE. She begins her espionage career as a wireless operator. Her talent for literature allows her to think of poems and phrases that combine the various codes to communicate with fellow operators (and to make them untraceable to the Nazis).

Later she becomes a courier and field agent because of her desire to be more hands on. She is more reserved than her female colleagues and does not have much in the way of a love interest in this book. However her friendships with the agents are very close and she has to face hardships with quiet stoicism that the others rely on.

Francine Agazarian-The final spy is the only one of the quartet who is happily married. In fact, despite objections, Francine and her husband, Jack are both operatives and couriers for the same Prosper circuit. 

Francine is the most emotional of her colleagues, probably because she has more to lose that is staring her right in the face. By contrast, the other agents are separated from those that they love and face it with toughness, earthiness, and stoicism. At one point, Francine and Jack are reunited after a long separation. Francine has had enough of intrigue, violence, and death so she resigns to live a normal life.

The four operatives are similar to the protagonists of Sergeant's 355: The Women of Washington's Spy Ring. They often work together and are even friends. They have a sisterly relationship in which they share a common goal and work towards it. However, that doesn't stop personalities from clashing and them getting into disagreements about how operations are run. Because their love lives are so different, they don't get involved with the same lovers.

 But the book still shows them as different women with different mindsets and sometimes those mindsets result in heavy disagreement.

As I mentioned this is by far the best book in Sergeant's series but also her darkest. The Prosper Circuit is betrayed and from a person that is not a likely suspect. Unlike in Sparks of Resistance, there is no seeming reluctance on this character's part. They do it and delight in the chess game that they ended up winning.

As a result of the betrayal, three of the protagonists are arrested and subjected to extensive torture. The outlook is grim as they become ill, frightened, and anxious to the point of paranoia, and suffer horrid physical abuse. The only ray of hope lies when one attempts an escape and that ray is squashed when she is caught and returned to prison.

One by one, the women die either by being gassed to death, are shot in the head, or succumb to illness. The lone survivor sees the end of the war but is filled with tremendous survivor's guilt and PTSD that will last for the rest of her life.

Of course the women are awarded, three posthumously for their courage and sacrifice. The defeat of The Nazis and the end of World War II also proved that their heroism was not in vain. It is a disturbing process to that end, one that leaves a lot of sadness, but ultimately it's worth it.

Sergeant has another book set in WWII called Embers of Resistance which one could guess leads to the end of the war. It would be interesting to see whether Sergeant uses her writing to cover female spies in other conflicts. The French Revolution?

The Cold War? Would Vietnam work? The War on Terror? There could be more amazing historical trips led by some brilliant strong dedicated women.

New Book Alert: L’Agent Double: Spies and Martyrs in the Great War (Women Spies Book 3) by Kit Sergeant; Suspenseful Character Driven Historical Novel About Real-Life WWI Female Spies By Julie Sara Porter Bookworm Reviews

New Book Alert: L’Agent Double: Spies and Martyrs in the Great War (Women Spies Book 3) by Kit Sergeant; Suspenseful Character Driven Historical Novel About Real-Life WWI Female Spies

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Spies are some of the most interesting colorful figures in history, literature, and popular culture. They have to be on the inside of one place, giving information to another, . By definition, they have to be charismatic and charming, so they can be trusted with secrets. They always have to carry on a duplicitous nature that is capable of deceit and subterfuge, even more so when they are a double agent and work both sides. They also have to be resourceful, sharp, and always have to watch their backs because they could be caught and their lives could end at any time.

Kit Sergeant has written a series of novels about spies in different points in history. 355: The Women of Washington's Spy Ring was about female spies in the Revolutionary War and Underground: Traitors and Spies During Lincoln's War covers the Civil War. Her latest, L’Agent Double tells an intense brilliant story about three real-life women thrust into the WWI spy game.

The three women are: Alouette Richer, a French aviator who is recruited after her husband's death, Marthe Cnockeart, a Belgian nurse who is also a courier against the occupying Germans, and Margaretha Zelle-MacLeod known by her famous stage name, Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer who uses her noted charms to seduce secrets out of her lovers.

These women are brilliantly characterized as individuals who have different stories about their recruitments, their spy processes, and their personalities. They are all three memorable protagonist who are caught up in tense situations and use everything at their disposal from wit, to charm, to loyal connections to find their way out. The stories don't intersect much except for a few scattered incidents abs hearing about the occasional news report. This approach gives the three women chances to stand out on their own as key players on the larger stage of World War I.

Mata Hari, called M’greet throughout the book, is certainly the most famous of the trio if not the most famous female spy of all time. In Sergeant's book, she is a vain cunning woman who is well aware of her um talents and attributes and uses them to get material possessions. She spies not out of any patriotism or loyalty to the countries but for the financial gain that she receives from her handlers.

 M’greet passes information from her various lovers to the governments using the code name, H-21. Since it's pointless to use a pseudonym because of her fame, she cleverly uses it as passage into the homes of various lovers. She is invited to swank parties where she observes plans and notes, or listens to gossip and conversations

and reports to superiors. Sometimes, she passes useless information to confuse them. 

However, Seargent doesn't write M’greet as a completely hard hearted woman or a stereotypical femme fatale. She is still hurting from a messy divorce and separation from her beloved daughter. Late in the book, she has a genuine romance with a younger soldier and considers renouncing her fame, notoriety, and lavish lifestyle for love. Unfortunately, the relationship ends and she is left alone once again. 

Alouette Richer is a different person from M’greet. She was happily married, while M’greet was miserably married and divorced. 

She was also brasher and feistier than the at times showy and materialistic M’greet. She becomes a spy, partly out of revenge for her husband's death but there are hints that she wants to live a life of excitement and significance. It is implied that she settled into a comfortable wealthy marriage to escape her former life as a courtesan.

 During her marriage, she flies airplanes something, rarely done by women in her day. She loves her husband, but wants to do something for herself. After his death, she actually writes a letter to the French government for her services in any way possible.

It is almost a series of errors and missteps in Alouette’s first spying assignment in Switzerland. She uses the cover story that she is looking for her fiance and drops the name of a former acquaintance without checking to see if he had married. She makes a friend with a German tourist but then learns, oops, that she is a spy and imprisons her. Luckily, Alouette's feistiness and impetuous nature which gets her in trouble also allows her to escape from her anatgonists. (Ironically, Gerda the spy, who almost captured Alouette, becomes M’greet’s spy trainer later.)

Alouette has better luck in Spain where she becomes more patient and self-assured than in her last assignment. Unlike M’greet who hopped from lover to lover, Alouette finds one specific German official to find information from, Baron Hans Von Krohn. She uses her former training as a courtesan to become Von Krohn's lover and to pass information using codes and invisible ink.

Alouette becomes an expert at concealing her real feelings. She whispers all the right romantic phrases while fully aware that she is in the home of an enemy. She plays the Spy Game so well that it's almost refreshing when she reveals her real emotions. While spying on Von Krohn, Alouette has a playful flirtation with Zozo, a fellow aviator and spy that develops into a potential real romance. When her assignment comes to an end, she calls out Von Krohn in a great moment of self-awareness. She also calls out her former handler when she learns that he was involved in betraying both her and M’greet.

Marthe Cnockeart doesn't have the seductive nature of M’greet or the forceful determination of Alouette, but she is no less dedicated to her work. She starts out as a nurse and a sweet naive girl with a family that loves but shelters her. When the German Army occupies her Belgian village, Marthe is filled with rage and despair and wants to do something. Her aunt provides her with a key to help the Belgians.

While she is treating patients, Marthe works as a courier. She listens to information from medical supervisors and wounded soldiers about upcoming battles and air raids and passes it along in notes to fellow spies. She is also monitored and advised by a secret group called “The Safety-Pin Men” (so-called because they were diagnal pins on their lapels) who tell her of important information that could affect her spying.

Of the three stories, Marthe's is probably the most emotional. She has to reconcile her spying with her medical career and the guilt she feels sending young men that she once healed to their deaths. She also has a sweet romance with a wounded soldier that does not end well.

There are plenty of suspenseful moments in this novel. Characters who the women trust prove to be traitors. Both M’greet and Alouette receive offers to become double agents further muddying their already tangled allegiances. One of Marthe's contacts is shot right in front of her and another is in a building when a bomb hits. All three women are at the point of near death, having their covers blown, and face possible arrest or execution several times. When M’greet is finally arrested and eventually executed, the shock waves of her fate are felt by Alouette and Marthe, causing both to question their loyalties and careers. 

Mata Hari 's maxim (said to be her final words) was “Life is an illusion,” meaning life is what you tell people and what you make them believe. All three women lived their lives in that way by carrying on subterfuge and revealing important information in war. They had to play specific roles in front of their enemies so others can go about their business. It was a tense and dangerous life, but never boring. It was always exciting and so is the book about them.

Kit Sergeant is writing a book about female spies in the Second World War. If it is anything like its predecessors it should be suspenseful, filled with strong leads, and completely unforgettable.