This is a well-written espionage mystery - our current protagonist, single mother Ruth Gilmartin, slowly learns the truth about her mother. Her mother Sally, seemingly a mild-mannered widow tending to her cottage garden, was actually a British spy of Russian descent, during World War II. Her mother involves her in one last mission . . .

I really enjoyed this - well-paced, tautly writtten - it seemed to cover so much territory in a relatively short novel, yet not skimping on atmosphere or characterization. The parts relating to Eva's (a.k.a. Sally Gilmartin's) recruitment, training and finally deployment were at times riveting; especially La Cruces. The events of the daughter's life, while still quite readable, were not nearly as good, and at times, I was really wanting it to switch back to the "spy" story.

Overall, quite good and recommended if you are in the mood for a quickly read, yet fairly literary thriller. So much in the mystery/thriller genre is so blandly and crappily written - this was refreshing. I thought it was loads better than the supposed classic of the espionage genre 'The Spy who came in from the Cold', which I had just read. ( )

Inevitably, nothing has changed since I read the hardcover edition but I do get great pleasure from the red highlighting of the coat and shoes on the cover even if this does seem grotesquely inappropriate for a novel about secrecy and of hiding. ( )

Restless: unable to relax; worried and uneasy; agitated and edgy.
What a perfectly applicable definition for the underlying theme of this book - in the characters and with the storyline; the reader rewarded with a beautifully-crafted, undeniably entertaining, page-turner of a latter-day spy thriller.

In this story of intrigue and disclosure, Ruth Gilmartin, single mother, academic and English tutor, has the very foundations of her tad bohemian lifestyle in Oxfordshire severely shaken in the long, hot summer of 1976. On a regular weekend visit to her widowed mother, Sally, she is presented with a change-in-personality and a folder containing the first chapter of the story of Eva Delectorskaya – apparently her mother’s real name! And as Ruth muddles through the finer points of her own reality, she is slowly brought to awareness of the (previously-unknown) circumstances of mother’s past – in her participation and involvement in wartime espionage. Artfully fluctuating between the two women and their lives, but grounded in the here and now by the considerable detail of Ruth’s daily existence, Eva’s complete story, fed to her daughter in purposeful instalments, unfolds unnervingly - from her life in Paris, her recruitment and training in the pre-war years, to her direct contribution to the war effort across many continents; and their distressing consequences. Plus the reason her mother is, at long last, revealing these dark, long-held secrets to her daughter.

This is obviously a well-researched story; the veracity complemented perfectly by the well-constructed prose. To me, it was such an easy read! And the rotation between the two contrasting stories of present-day daughter and wartime mother – perhaps somewhat irritating to some - permitted the trepidation, and, dare I say, restlessness, to ratchet up in intensity. The apprehension and the pressure of Eva’s existence are augmented by the ease in which similar paranoia and anxiety become evident in her daughter’s everyday life – thus emphasising the extremes her mother must have suffered! How clever is that? I found the lives of both equally fascinating, though Eva’s wartime experiences enthralled in their authenticity – I learnt so much! And despite a moderately transparent solution to Eva’s plot-line, it is uncertain what resultant actions may eventuate, allowing a slow build-up of tension to penetrate the current play.

What is certain is that this book embraces the long-lasting and lingering repercussions of war, accentuated within a tight and enthralling thriller. And regardless of how lives may be resurrected, and how valiantly attempts are made to resume a peacetime life, the residual effects remain forever. In some cases, they permanently shape an uneasy continuation; no matter if long-awaited closure is eventually achieved. It is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime…and sometimes, it seems, it is essential not to.
A compelling tale indeed…

(Aug 22, 2009) ( )

Boyd's glorious rich rhythmic language enhances my enjoyment of everything that he writes. To have this applied to the espionage genre that I so enjoy is an added gift and I was particularly pleased by the elegance of the plot and the depth of the characters. Were it not for the masculinity of the female narrators I would be awarding this five stars but this is the pickiest of nits. ( )

About 10 years ago I went through a heavy espionage phase, reading all the majors – Ludlum, Le Carre, Follett, Forsyth and grew to love the espionage genre. But like anything one overindulges in, it became repetitive and I stopped reading spy thrillers because all the plots sort of ran together. I do still like it though and occasionally dip into newer authors like Brett Battles and his Cleaner series. This novel, espionage at heart, is not anything like the classic novels however. It’s softer and more character driven than plot driven. Yes, we do get spycraft, missions and distrust, but that’s not the point. The point is to show how becoming a spy affects a person forever.

Basically it’s done pretty well. Eva is recruited as a young woman, trained and put into the field in a short period of time. Mostly her job is to fabricate news items for a bogus wire service in hopes that they will be picked up and legitimized to further the ends of the little group she works within. That group is controlled by Lucas Romer; spymaster extraordinaire. Occasionally she is given missions to enact, but neither turns out well. In the end, she knows she’s been burned and she cunningly escapes into a new identity and buries herself in domesticity.

The present day storyline follows her and daughter Ruth. Ruth is worried that Sal’s recent behavior is indicative of some kind of mental breakdown. At first she’s unconvinced by her mother’s wartime memoir, but eventually comes to accept it as truth. The mundane realities of her life fall away from her into insignificance as she gets caught up in her mother’s story. She’s a smart woman, but cannot see how she’s being played, run (as a sort of operative) by her mother who, through Ruth, engineers a meeting with Romer.

It shows nicely how her years as a spy never left her. Everything she’s done, every choice she has made was weighed, measured and evaluated against her spy training. Marriage, children, residences; all designed to keep her underground and to give her pieces to work with should the game recommence. She takes the #1 rule to heart and cannot even trust her own family. Even what Ruth thinks of as her everyday quirkiness is method, a program to stay vigilant and hidden. It was nicely done.

One thing that was odd was the forced feminization in both Eva and Ruth’s narratives. If you removed the names and occasional mentions of eye shadow, sex and high-heels, one would think this was a story of father and son. There wasn’t anything intrinsically feminine about either character; it was all overt and stated. Hard to describe, but once I picked up on it I couldn’t let it go.

I did find another review to be funny when the reviewer had to emphasize that yes, we did in fact read correctly that there were British spies in America during WWII. Too funny. One thing some of these spy thrillers have going against them is the last 60-odd years. Everything’s been done, said, revealed and perpetrated. Any kind of spy in America is no longer shocking. What’s so unexpected about foreign spies operating in the United States in the early 1940s? Nothing. ( )