July 25, 2013

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Davina & Paul Witts - Founders

Below is part of BookBrowse's review of The Spy Who Loved. Read the review in full here

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN 9781250030320

BookBrowse Rating:
Critics' Consensus:

Review:
Polish native Christine Granville, born Krystyna Skarbeck, was, purportedly, Winston Churchill's favorite spy. A contestant for Poland's national beauty contest in 1930, she married twice and had a number of lovers. She was Britain's first female secret service agent. To say that her life is the stuff of legend is to put it mildly. Clare Mulley's newest biography The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville sifts through the stories, fabrications, and tall tales surrounding this World War II secret agent to discover who Granville really was. The resulting biography brims with details and vignettes about her colorful life.

The daughter of a Polish aristocrat, Count Jerzy Skarbek, Granville enjoyed an indulgent childhood on a lush plantation in Poland where she ran with the horses and stayed indoors as little as possible. She craved freedom, was independent, charming, beautiful, fearless - and stubborn.

When Germany invaded Poland in the fall of 1939, Granville was married to a Polish diplomat stationed in South Africa. She arrived in London, and aided by her friend and respected journalist Frederick Voight, convinced the British Secret Service that her assistance would be vital to defeat Britain and Poland's common foe, Germany. Her first mission, probably designed to prove her courage and commitment to Britain, found her skiing into Poland in the winter of 1939 through the dangerous Tatra Mountains to distribute leaflets to the Polish people encouraging them to stand strong against Germany. Her professionalism, tenacity, and level-headedness continued to prove to the British that her involvement was essential. She eventually provided evidence of Germany's plans to invade Russia weeks before British command believed the German forces to be ready. Later, she supported the preparations for the Allied invasion of France.

Perhaps the most important aspects of Granville's personality were her abilities to remain calm despite any provocation and to find creative solutions for tough problems. Arguably, most spies would have these strengths, but Granville's many contemporaries believed that she particularly excelled here. Stories highlighting her skills abound. Granville routinely relied on her beauty and men's assumptions about women to get herself out of stressful situations. During one episode when she and her companion were being interrogated and searched, she blithely straightened her skirts and took a seat on her luggage to wait. The German officer never asked to search her luggage, and she never let on that she was nervous or had anything to hide. They were dismissed without the officer having any idea that all incriminating evidence was in fact safely stowed in Granville's luggage. Another episode involves her quick-witted decision during an interrogation in a Budapest prison to bite her lips until they bled. She then began to cough up the blood in a dramatic manner, affecting a severe case of tuberculosis. The interrogating officer, growing nervous that he would contract the disease, had her medically examined for the deadly airborne illness, which at the time had no vaccine. The doctor, clearly on Granville's side, agreed that she had tuberculosis - she was released. As these and similar stories quickly circulated, Granville became popular among the service agents for her intelligence and courage. After the war, she won multiple medals for her efforts.

The post-war years however, were tough, since Granville found the predictable days of peace, dull and unanimated after the wartime excitement. Unwilling to work as a civil servant in an office, she finally found work as a maid on cruise ships, a job that, though below her skill level, allowed her to travel. Since the British passengers often discriminated against foreigners, Granville's first voyage was very challenging. She started a relationship with Dennis Muldowney, a porter (and former merchant marine) aboard the cruise ship, who fell hard for the former spy. Once the frustrations of the sea passage were over and Granville was once against amongst friends in London, her interest in Muldowney waned. He, however, grew increasingly obsessed with her and stabbed her to death when, months later, she told him that he was to leave her alone. It was a harsh ending for the brave woman who had evaded Nazi capture dozens of time during WWII.

After her death, Granville's life immediately became the stuff of legend, as the British press speculated about the "Beautiful Polish Countess Turned British Agent" who died at the hands of a jilted lover. Some thought her death was motivated by the NKVD (the secret service organization that was the predecessor of Russia's KGB). These stories were soon squashed when it was determined that Muldowney acted independently and for his own cruel reasons. Later, it was suggested that Granville inspired Ian Fleming's female spy character Vesper Lynd, in the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. Many of the people who knew her best rallied to protect Granville's story from being sullied by the press. This fierce protection snuffed out a few early biographies and ultimately worked to keep her story from being as popularly known as it probably should be - especially considering Granville's status and successes (continued)

Reviewed by Sarah Sacha Dollacker

Above is part of BookBrowse's review of The Spy Who Loved. Read the complete review and backstory & browse an excerpt


Read-Alikes:
22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre
At Risk by Stella Rimington
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

At BookBrowse, we don't just review books, we go 'beyond the book' to explore interesting aspects relating to the story.

"The book's first chapter is inspired by what my mom went through giving birth to me behind bars. A few years later my parents were released, which was fortunate for them because in 1988 - the last year of the Iran/Iraq war - the regime carried out mass executions of political prisoners. It has been estimated that the purge killed between three and twelve thousand people. We'll never know the exact number because their bodies weren't turned over to their families and funerals were not allowed. Instead many of the victims were buried in mass graves. My dad's brother was among those executed that summer."

Evin prison (nicknamed Evin University because it has held so many intellectuals) is located in Evin, in the north-west of Tehran, at the foot of the Alborz Mountains. Constructed in 1972, it has an execution yard, a courtroom, and cell blocks. It was originally run by the Shah's security and intelligence unit and was designed to hold 320 prisoners (20 in solitary and 300 in general); but was later expanded to house over 1500, including over 100 solitary cells for political prisoners.

After the Islamic Republic was established, Evin prison was expanded enormously - to house over 15,000 prisoners. While its stated purpose is as a detention center prior to trial, many prisoners have lived out their sentences in Evin, and many others have been executed there.

Internationally, Evin prison is synonymous with political prisoner and revolution. Many famous political activists and accused activists have been imprisoned - and worse - there. Here is a very small sampling of their stories: ....Continued