The Spy Who Loved: the secrets and lives of one of Britain's bravest wartime heroines

'Compulsively readable . . . thrilling' – Sunday Telegraph 'Brings alive a glamorous, swashbuckling heroine' – Sunday Times In June 1952, a woman was murdered by an obsessive colleague in a hotel in South Kensington. Her name was Christine Granville – Churchill's favourite spy. That she died young was perhaps unsurprising. That she had survived the Second World War was remarkable. The daughter of a feckless Polish aristocrat and his wealthy Jewish wife, Christine fled to Britain on the outbreak of war and persuaded MI6 to make her their first female recruit. She took on mission after mission, skiing into occupied Poland, serving in Egypt and later parachuting into occupied France. Her quick wit, courage and determination won her release from arrest more than once, and she saved the lives of several fellow officers, including one of her many lovers just hours before he was due to be executed by the Gestapo. Of more strategic importance, the intelligence she smuggled to Britain, and her service in France, including single-handedly securing the defection of an entire Nazi German garrison, was a significant contribution to the Allied war effort. She was awarded the George Medal, the OBE and the Croix de Guerre. In The Spy Who Loved, author Clare Mulley has brought Christine vividly to life – a complex, courageous and very effective special agent who deserves to be better remembered.

About the Author :
Clare Mulley is the award-winning author of The Spy Who Loved: the secrets and lives of one of Britain’s bravest wartime heroines, which has been optioned for film and The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb, which won the Daily Mail Biographers' Club Prize. She has also contributed to The Arvon Book of Life-Writing and reviews for The Spectator and History Today. She lives in Saffron Walden, with her husband, three daughters, and lurcher.

Review :
A stunning biographical achievement Clare Mulley tells her story with a bravura that matches Christine's charismatic character A fine account of Christine Granville's extraordinary war, told with skill and care . . . Mulley succeeds in making her human . . . inspiring Compulsively readable . . . Clare Mulley has done a dogged piece of detective work piecing together Christine's ultimately tragic life. Understandably obsessed by her charismatic subject, she has written a thrilling book and paid due homage to a difficult woman who seized life with both hands A breath-taking story, told with panache and sympathy for an extraordinary heroine. Mulley vividly brings to life not only a resourceful and unusual woman but in doing so helps us understand what makes an ordinary person act with superhuman courage in times of adversity. The Spy Who Loved is required reading for anyone interested in understanding what makes an ordinary person act with superhuman courage in times of adversity. This is a gripping read Not only was Christine Granville Britain's first woman agent in World War II but carried out some of the most daring missions ever conceived. Her biographer Clare Mulley has provided a vivid account of her activities yet maintains a balanced assessment of the results. Careful research has created sustained tension, vitality and immediacy which are truly page-turning I enjoyed and admired The Spy Who Loved . . . A really gripping account of the remarkable Christine Granville An astonishing story, brilliantly told. If a Hollywood movie isn't made about Christine Granville's remarkable life, I'd be amazed Impressively researched, and absolutely fascinating. Christine Granville is one of those women you can't help wishing you'd met in real life Compulsively readable . . . Clare Mulley has done a dogged piece of detective work piecing together Christine's ultimately tragic life... She has written a thrilling book, and paid overdue homage to a difficult woman who seized life with both hands Mulley writes well . . . This is both a compelling read and a testimony to the work of a dedicated opponent of Nazism. I highly recommend it Spellbinding saga of espionage and adventure Admirable and overdue Oustanding . . . While a few books about Christine have emerged in the intervening decades, only now, with the publication of Clare Mulley's scrupulously researched and expertly rendered biography, do we have a multi-dimensional, uncensored, impartial portrait of the legendary spy – said to be Churchill's favorite – whose forty-four-year existence was filled with more eye-popping adventures than we'd find plausible in any novel or movie Well-written and thoroughly researched . . . One British functionary described [Granville's] dispatches from the field as 'good reading.' The same can be said of Ms. Mulley's biography of this extraordinary woman Excellent . . . A romping adventure of international espionage, grand plots and sex, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance . . . [a] well-researched portrayal, a fascinating and riveting account of an exceptional spy's exceptional life . . . An exemplary feminist biography, which, without ever slipping into didacticism, takes its subject, her desires and her choices seriously A dazzling tale Mulley gives a remarkable, charismatic woman her due in this tantalizing biography Compulsively readable . . . Clare Mulley has done a dogged piece of detective work piecing together Christine's ultimately tragic life . . . She has written a thrilling book, and paid overdue homage to a difficult woman who seized life with both hands Brings alive a glamorous, swashbuckling heroine Engrossing biography details the high-voltage life of one of Britain's most remarkable female spies . . . Fascinating