While Still We Live

One of my favorite thrillers of all time, written by espionage queen Helen MacInnes in 1944, while WWII was still raging, set during and after the fall of Warsaw, and chronicling the early days of the Polish resistance. The first time I read it, I was impressed with how tightly it was crafted and the total lack of sugar coating, despite the main character being a young woman. And saddened to think it would take more than 40 years after the defeat of the Nazis for the Poles to regain true independence out from the shadow of the Iron Curtain.

On this subsequent reading, I am still impressed at Ms. MacInnes prowess as a suspense writer, and was also drawn to reflect on the parallels between the fight of the Poles against the Nazis and the show more current fight of the Ukrainians against Russia. The more things change, the more they stay the same. show less

This title originally was titled The Unconquerable (I think in the British market). A vintage tale which was one of those narratives that had me going on and on in my head, "Fer crying out loud, you dumb woman, get out of Poland right now".
Sheila is British and winds up being co-opted into being a double agent. That led to a very implausible situation because at no moment was there any indication that she's trained in spy craft, that she thinks quickly and assertively, ot that she has the foggiest notion of the political situation. A rather dimly-conceived story, which I wouldn't expect from this author.

My memory of this tale (caveat: having read it some 40 years ago) was that the story was exciting and featured such a courageous show more heroine. Well, not. How time and distance lends a different interpretation to stories like this! Other thriller-espionage books by MacInnes are better crafted. I awarded 3-stars because other than the major implausibility niggle, it was a good espionage-chase-and-escape story for those who like that untrammelled adventure. show less

I really felt sorry for Sheila. She was caught up in a situation not of her own making. I can't imagine what you would do if you were "drafted" out the blue to be a spy. She was a most unlikely spy...the Nazi's must have been desperate. Along the way she experiences betrayal from Nazi collaborators and selfless sacrifice by ordinary people trying to help her escape. The best thing she got out the entire deal is she met the love of her life...so a little romance thrown in. It's a fairly long book...676 pages... but the pace is slow as the story unwinds. A story well told and diffidently worth the time and effort.

Sheila Matthews, English but fluent in German, is in Poland when the Nazis invade at the beginning of the Second World War. She ends up having to flee from a German army officer who’s convinced she’s a spy. I found this story initially compelling, particularly because of the female protagonist, but I eventually became bogged down and bored when Sheila was not present in the story. Also, the edition I read (an ebook from the library) was riddled with typos, which were distracting. I may try again someday in print, or I may not. I’ll keep trying other books by MacInnes, though.

The novel is set in Poland in August 1939 just before the Germans invaded. People are enjoying the last days of summer as the tension builds. Many don't think the threat is real but others with inside knowledge know there is danger. All this is narrated through the eyes of Sheila Mathews, a young English woman who has come to Poland to visit her elderly aunt. She is so taken with Poland and her aunt that she extends her stay until it is tool late. Then she falls in love with a Polish army officer, becomes involved with the Gestapo, masquerades as a German woman and eventually flees across Poland just steps ahead of the pursuing Gestapo while participating in guerrilla warfare.

The narrative does give a great description of life in show more occupied Poland. The book was published in 1944 so does not have the advantage of hindsight so some assumptions expressed by the characters did not come about as hoped. Interestingly, there is no mention of Jews and the Holocaust or the Warsaw Ghetto.

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Lifelong favorite set in pre-war and wartime Poland. Romance sublime in the fabric of courageous resistance to the brutal occupation. A story that has stayed with me for decades. A re-reader.

A moving tribute to the tragedy and heroism of the Poles during the1939 German invasion of Poland, the siege of Warsaw, and the resistance/underground movement.