I found this book initially jarring in its tone as I have recently been reading more contemporary writing. It felt very English and proper, 1960's London.
However, I gradually became immersed in the story of Simon, who works for the admiralty in London and his wife Lily and their young family. Simon takes a late night phone call from a work colleague and ex-lover, Giles, whom has become hospitalised accidentally. Giles wants him to retrieve a Top Secret, file he has taken home and return it to the office discreetly. When Simon sees the file he realises that Giles is involved in spy work and refuses to be a party to it or become complicit and stashes it. Giles, to save his own skin then sets the admiralty on to Simon who is charged with treason and detained in prison. Lily's secure life is destroyed and she must take steps to protect the children and support Simon.
There is a nice build of tension, culminating in a satisfying ending. ( )

It took a while for this one to get going - character, rather than plot, driven. Set in England during the Cold War of the 1960s, this story is told through the eyes of three characters - brash Giles, public servant Simon and his teacher wife, Lily. Author, Helen Dunmore, skilfully develops the characters and their various complexities and contradictions.
I listened to the audio version for this one. Worth a listen or a read.


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At the height of the Cold War in 1960, Britain is suspicious and seemingly threatened by Soviet spies attempting to pass on secrets about defence capabilities. This sets the backdrop for ‘Exposure’ as Simon Callington, who works at the Admiralty is caught up in the fever. In a truthful evocation of the time, the story oscillates between Simon, his wife Lilly and Giles Holloway, Simon’s mentor at the Admiralty. But there is more than government secrets at risk and the paranoia is increased by Simon trying to keep secret his past. The accusation of spying against him is worsened by the fact that Lily is a German refugee who escaped to Britain as a young girl in the late 1930s and so is seen as another suspected of divided loyalties.
The story reflects on the varying nature of love as the accusations reawaken Lily’s buried experiences as a Jew in Berlin before her emigration and she shows that she is determined to protect her children. This makes for an intriguing story as each of the protagonists try to protect their own personal secrets in a book that is both sensitive to their feelings and an enthralling investigation of the world of spies.

A little pot boiler this one. I nice period piece and middle class study. What goes together better than, Englishness, class, homosexuality and spying. Don’t get me wrong, I am not being facetious, this really is the core of this book and it is a superb piece of work. I can almost see the BBC produced mini-series complete with Fair Isle pullovers and hot cocoa around a winter fire.

I tore through it and loved every minute. Nothing deep or moving just clever writing and a solid storyline. ( )

Exposure is a story set during the Cold War, about espionage, relationships, loyalties, and forgiveness. I very much enjoyed reading about Lily, and how she coped with all that was thrown at her - losing her job, moving her family away from all things familiar, managing on a much reduced income, having her husband imprisoned, and unexpectedly discovering things she never knew about him.

I didn't get into this story until just after halfway through, when Lily's story takes centre stage. Hers was the story, from the blurb, that I thought the book was about. I couldn't summon any interest for Giles Holloway's history and involvement with Simon, or Julian Clowde's role as head of the spy ring.

The plot is similar to Edith Nesbitt's The Railway Children, in which the father is unjustly accused of espionage and imprisoned, but is eventually exonerated. In Exposure the children only have supporting roles, and it is the mother, Lily, who is the heroine in this story. ( )