Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II

Vera Atkins was a spy for the British during World War II. She was apparently quite forgotten in the history books until this attempt to rectify that. However, IMO, this book went into entirely too much detail and needed serious editing. The clarity for an average reader was difficult to manage - too many code names, etc. to keep track of.

I'm certain that Ms. Atkins' efforts during the war were extraordinary, however, IMO, this book was not.

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Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II by William Stevenson tells of Vera Atkins, a legendary English spy during World War II. Mr. Stevenson was a journalist, scriptwriter, TV news commentator, and bestselling author.

The more I read about the response to the plight of the Jewish people during World War II, the more I’m amazed that any survived. From the conference in Évian, where the participants condemned them to a prolonged death at the hands of the Nazis, to the refusal to allow immigrants. If it wasn’t for a small group of people (relatively speaking), history would look a lot different.

One of those people was Vera show more Maria Rosenberg, known as Vera Atkins because a Romanian Jew, born in Bucharest, would not be accepted. Unfortunately, Ms. Rosenberg was overshadowed for decades, despite her brilliant contributions to the war effort.

Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II by William Stevenson attempts to correct that mistake. The book also sheds light on many secrets which were locked away for decades. Stalin refusal to help allies in Poland, Germany sinking British ships because the Russians were using a known broken code, the Vichy government murdering thousands of jews after Normandy, as well as the allies refusing to destroy the concentration camps, despite solid proof and ability to do so. According to the author, this is because many powerful people were either pro-Nazi, antisemitic, or working for Stalin.

Vera Atkins was not only brilliant, but effective as well. She fought in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), answering to Churchill obviously at great peril. Author Ian Fleming even based Ms. Moneypenny, from James Bond fame, on Ms. Atkins. There’s even a mention of Virginal Hall, the famous American spy.

While this book is a bit difficult to get into, the story is amazing and certainly needed to be told. The extraordinary amount of vital information in this book makes it a must read for any World War II buff. show less

This book was interesting, heartbreaking and enlightening. It tells the stories of the many men and women who sacrificed their lives, and often their public honor, in the secret battle for information and sabotage, helping the allies win in the war with Germany. It tells of them by their connections to Vera Atkins, the woman who recruited many of them and sent them into the secret battle. Vera, a Romanian with a Jewish background, gave up her identity to be able to serve and live in Britain. What was heartbreaking to me, was the hardheartedness of America and Britain to the plight of the Jews of Europe. This shows that their devastation was not why we went to war, and we handed them over to even more destruction when we were so eager to show more appease Stalin after the war. This truly is a broken world.
Though some of the information was more detailed than I was interested in, I'm sure others who are more knowledgeable about this war would enjoy them. I enjoyed the anecdotes more than the detailed information; of them were amusing, others horrifying, but all of them were fascinating and my heart went out to those who were brave enough to be involved. show less

I read this because of an article I read in the Wattpad non-fiction WOMEN IN WAR: the Real-Life Agent Carters. I tried to memories the list of biographies and went to my library, but the only name I remembered was Vera Atkins. I was not disappointed.

There were a lot of names and code names, but I managed to keep them all straight, even the few titles that were two lines long. This book took a bit to become interesting, but once it did, I couldn't put it down. I stayed up late quite a few nights, just wanted to read one more chapter. And the chapter lengths were perfect. They weren't too long, nor too short, just long enough for me to think I could read one more before I went to bed.

2.5 stars. 5 stars for giving the women the credit they were due 70 years ago. 1 star for confuddled organization and too often digressing far, far from its title subject.

Very good informative book about the lesser know women spies of world war two and the woman responsible for them.

Good book very enjoyable and engrossing. Reinforces in my mind that if it hadn't been for us the English would be speaking German.