Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II
Oct 2011 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
4.3star
7 reviews
Ebook
352
Pages
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About this ebook
The New York Times Bestseller by the Author of A Man Called Intrepid
She was stunning. She was ruthless. She was brilliant and had a will of iron. Born Vera Maria Rosenberg in Bucharest, she became Vera Atkins. William Stphenson, the spymaster who would later be known as “Intrepid”, recruited her when she was twenty-three. Vera spent most of the 1930s running too many dangerous espionage missions to count. When war was declared in 1939, her many skills made her one of the leaders of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert intelligence agency formed by, and reporting to, Winston Churchill. She trained and recruited hundreds of agents, including dozens of women. Their job was to seamlessly penetrate deep behind the enemy lines.
As General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, the fantastic exploits and extraordinary courage of the SOE agents and the French Resistance fighters “shortened the war by many months.”They are celebrated, as they should be. But Vera Atkins’s central role has been hidden until after she died; William Stevenson promised to wait and publish her story posthumously. Now, Vera Atkins can be celebrated and known for the hero she was: the woman whose beauty, intelligence, and unwavering dedication proved key in turning the tide of World War II.
- Ideal for fans of Nancy Wake, Virginia Hall, The Last Goodnight by Howard Blum, The Woman Who Smashed Codes, The Wolves at the Door by Judith Pearson, and similar works
- Shares the story of Vera Atkins, legendary spy and holder of the Legion of Honor
- Written by William Stevenson, the only person whom she trusted to write her biography
She was stunning. She was ruthless. She was brilliant and had a will of iron. Born Vera Maria Rosenberg in Bucharest, she became Vera Atkins. William Stphenson, the spymaster who would later be known as “Intrepid”, recruited her when she was twenty-three. Vera spent most of the 1930s running too many dangerous espionage missions to count. When war was declared in 1939, her many skills made her one of the leaders of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert intelligence agency formed by, and reporting to, Winston Churchill. She trained and recruited hundreds of agents, including dozens of women. Their job was to seamlessly penetrate deep behind the enemy lines.
As General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, the fantastic exploits and extraordinary courage of the SOE agents and the French Resistance fighters “shortened the war by many months.”They are celebrated, as they should be. But Vera Atkins’s central role has been hidden until after she died; William Stevenson promised to wait and publish her story posthumously. Now, Vera Atkins can be celebrated and known for the hero she was: the woman whose beauty, intelligence, and unwavering dedication proved key in turning the tide of World War II.
Ratings and reviews
4.3
7 reviews
marlene campbell
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May 21, 2023
The courage of the young girls that were sent to Franch as spies absolutely amazed me and the fact that they did more than one mission is beyond explaining. I wonder if that bravery and sense of duty is alive in the world today. I was disappointed to read of the infighting between factions of the government and the loss of life because of it seemed unjustifiable. Would the United States think the same way about giving into the Russians today as they did in 1944 and 45? I enjoyed the book in its realness.
About the author
William Stevenson was a journalist and author of the bestselling books A Man Called Intrepid and 90 Minutes at Entebbe, He also worked as a movie scriptwriter, a television news commentator, and producer of award-winning documentaries. He died in 2013.
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