A review by benfast
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII by Sarah Helm

3.0

I don't know what I was expecting with this, a biography of Vera Atkins or a story of her agents in France, but really it was neither. It was part bio of Atkins, part bio/narrative of her agents' experiences after they were captured, part story of her piecing together the story of the agents after the war. The main phrase that defines this element of the war is "tragic incompetence," it is remarkable how the SOE managed to have any agents survive the war or have any information/sabotage success given how the organization operated. A very interesting story, but a bit all over the place and one that left me wanting to know more about the purpose given so many of the biographical elements were left unexplained or being pieced together by old people's opinions decades later.