Binney, Marcus. The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Women Agents of SOE in the Second World War. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2002. The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive. New York: Morrow, 2003. New York: Harper, 2004. [pb]
According to Peake, Studies 47.1 (2003), the author "tells the story of ten SOE women who served behind enemy lines.... Some have had their stories told before, but recently released material from the British archives ... has added new details.... Binney includes chapters on training and agent life that provide essential background.... The stories are well told and worth reading."
For Bath, NIPQ 20.1, the author gives "a factual and compelling picture" of SOE's women agents. The book "helps put in perspective some of the more romanticized accounts of agent activities" published earlier. King, NIPQ 22.4, adds that the book "provides valuable details to well-established histories of the SOE."
Braddon, Russell. Nancy Wake: The Story of a Very Brave Woman. New York: Norton, 1957.
Nancy Wake-Fiocca ("Andreé") was an Australian national who was living in Marseilles when France fell in June 1940. She joined the Resistance and had to flee France when the escape organization with which she was working was rolled up in March 1943. She parachuted back into France as an SOE liaison with the Maquis in March 1944. Cookridge, Inside SOE, p. 355. See also Nancy Wake, The White Mouse (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1985), and Peter Fitzsimons, Nancy Wake (London: HarperCollins, 2002).
Butler,
Josephine. Churchill's Secret Agent: Josephine Butler (Code Name "Jay
Bee"). Toronto: Methuen, 1983. [Chambers]
Escott,
Beryl E. Mission Improbable: A Salute to Air Women of the SOE in Wartime France. London: Patrick Stephens, 1991.
Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
Fitzsimons, Peter. Nancy Wake: The Inspiring Story of One of the War's Greatest Heroines. London: HarperCollins, 2002.
Nancy Wake-Fiocca ("Andreé") was an Australian national who was living in Marseilles when France fell in June 1940. She joined the Resistance and had to flee France when the escape organization with which she was working was rolled up in March 1943. She parachuted back into France as an SOE liaison with the Maquis in March 1944. Cookridge, Inside SOE, p. 355. See also Nancy Wake, The White Mouse (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1985), and Russell Braddon, Nancy Wake (New York: Norton, 1957).
Peake, Studies 46.4, says that this "is a fine example of the little known roles that women played in the clandestine service during the war."
Foot,
M.R.D. Six Faces of Courage. London: Methuen, 1978.
Foot tells the stories of six heroes (four men and two women) in the World War II intelligence war. Constantinides calls this "a moving book," but one that "is also instructive" by identifying "what helps make agents great."
Fuller, Jean Overton. Born for Sacrifice: The Story of Noor Inayat Khan. London: Pan, 1957. Madeleine. London: Gollancz, 1952.
Constantinides: Khan was an SOE radio operator who died after being captured by the Germans. The 1957 edition added new material to the 1952 version. Fuller updates her views on Khan in The German Penetration of SOE.
Khan's personal file from SOE was included in the May 2003 release of documents transferred to the National Archives, Kew. See: http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases/may2003/soe_list.htm.
Gleeson,
James. They Feared No Evil. London: Hale, 1976.
Clark comment: Includes profiles of the women who served with SOE in France in World War II.
Deborah Van Seters, I&NS 7.4/410, finds Gleeson's language in discussing these women agents to be "hackneyed" and revealing of a "patronizing attitude."
Helm, Sarah. A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE. London: Little Brown, 2005. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2006.
According to Studies 50.1 (Mar. 2006), Atkins was "the very influential special assistant to the head of [SOE's] French branch, F Section, with particular responsibilities for selecting and training personnel." After the war, she went to Europe to try to discover what happened to the operatives who did not return, especially 12 women who she knew personally. This work "tells a fascinating tale about an exceptional woman."
Goulden, Intelligencer 15.2 (Fall/Winter 2006-2007), finds that the author "writes in near-novelistic style and is adept at exploring the emotional issues that are an inescapable part of her story.... In sum: new material, well-written, a highly readable account."
Howarth,
Patrick. Undercover: The Men and Women of Special Operations Executive.
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
Constantinides: Howarth "adds an extra dimension and insight into [SOE], the persons staffing it, and personal relationships.... [His] biography is one of the most complete on SOE.... [B]ut there are shortcomings.... [There is a] feeling that Howarth unintentionally painted too glowing a portrait of the organization in his anxiety to pay tribute to individual members and operatives."
Jones,
Liane. A Quiet Courage: The Story of SOE's Women Agents in France. London: Corgi Books, 1990. [pb]
According to Surveillant 1.3, this book presents the "[t]rue stories of six British women agents who were dropped into occupied France during the Second World War." Van Seters, I&NS 7.4/411, says that "Jones' work is by far the most thoughtful commentary to date on any field of women's secret service work."
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