I recently went to a talk about the history behind Operation Moonlight by its author Louise Morrish in Portsmouth and bought a copy. It’s a debut novel focused on a female British agent in the Second World War working in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). It’s lightly packed full of research about the training of agents and what it was like to be a woman in this part of the war and its dual timeline tracks to and fro from the present day to wartime.

Elizabeth (Betty) is turning 100 and facing her secret past with the help of her carer Tali, who is struggling with recent heartbreak, falling in love again and coming out as gay. When Tali finds an old suitcase in Betty’s house that contains a gun, Betty’s thoughts return to 1944.

Back in 1944 Betty successfully passes through the rigours of being selected as an agent and is parachuted into occupied France to collect intelligence in the run-up the D-Day landings. She faces the terror of expecting at any moment to be caught and hiding out with her wireless set to get her messages back to London. Love and betrayal then put her in sight of the Nazis and she has a terrible choice to make.

This is a fun read that I’d really recommend.