I Spy

Sorry that I'm late in posting this review. I sort of lost track of time.

I recently read Winter of the World, a very long and detailed account of World War II written as a novel by Ken Follett. It was an extremely good book, but quite dark and detailed in its examination of this yucky war.

But because of my recent reading of this novel, I was somewhat apprehensive about reading Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, though I was intrigued by its description, and the fact that it was the first in a series. My apprehension was proven unnecessary.

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary isn’t a comedy; however, it is a novel about one of the more interesting facets of the war, and told through fairly light-hearted characters. I had read and heard before about the fact that spies abounded during WWII, and in fact there were posters posted during this period reminding people that any Tom, Dick, or Harriet could be a spy. But this was sort of an easier demonstration of this phenomenon.

Jen texted me one night and said, “I like this book. There are spies EVERYWHERE.” And so it was. I found myself trying to figure out who was the spy and who wasn’t. I was convinced throughout that John was going to end up being the spy, and was relieved when that wasn’t so. I also suspected Chuck and the twins. Must say I never suspected Paige.

I thought this book definitely had first-bookitis. Some of the plot themes were kind of predictable. For example, the three friends – Paige, Sarah, and Maggie – were blonde, brunette, and redhead – kind of like a Barbie Doll collection. Still, I gave Macneal the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she was going for cheesy, sort of like a Dashiell Hammett mystery. She even featured martinis prominently in the book. And I loved all of her descriptions of clothes and hairstyles. It gave me a strong sense of time and place.

But, I found it confusing that Maggie got her job as Churchill’s secretary because Mrs. Tinsley got sick. Then, Mrs. Tinsley never came back?????? She was mentioned at the end of the book, but why didn’t she get her job back as his secretary?

I liked the presentation of Maggie as an independent-thinking woman who was ahead of the game when it came to women’s liberation.

  

It was somewhat unbelieveable to me that Maggie’s family and friends kept the fact that her father was alive a secret for so long. Why? Reality suspension I guess.

I also really liked the use of real characters mixed with fictional characters. I of course liked Churchill, but I also enjoyed the references to some of our most highly-respected people and their acceptance of Nazism, at least initially (e.g., Joe Kennedy). It’s interesting to note that there are two sides to most stories. While there is nothing good to say about the Nazis as they played out, it is interesting to be reminded about the economic conditions that made Hitler even remotely make sense to anyone.

Finally, I think it gave a good perspective about what war looks like from different perspectives. The Irish characters were only concerned about Ireland, and so they supported the Nazis as a way of getting to the British, for example. War stinks, but everyone has a different perspective about it. Still, I can’t imagine living the way people had to during the war, never knowing when the bombs were going to drop.

A good read overall.