Eighteen-year-old Colette’s peaceful life in France is shattered when the Nazi panzers steamroll across her country. She feels compelled to help the nation she loves and joins the Women’s Auxilliary Air Force in England, training as a radar operator. There, her French accent is noticed and she is recruited into the Special Operations Executive to spy in France.
Smothering her fear and self-doubt, Colette undergoes intensive training as a radio operator. One moonlit night, she is infiltrated into France to work with the Résistance. Nazi tracking vans are out, using her transmissions to locate her. Her messages must be short and she moves fast after each one.
It’s a game of cat and mouse which Colette must win … every time.
Eighteen-year-old Colette’s peaceful life in France is shattered when the Nazi panzers steamroll across her country. She feels compelled to help the nation she loves and joins the Women’s Auxilliary Air Force in England, training as a radar operator. There, her French accent is noticed and she is recruited into the Special Operations Executive to spy in France.
Smothering her fear and self-doubt, Colette undergoes intensive training as a radio operator. One moonlit night, she is infiltrated into France to work with the Résistance. Nazi tracking vans are out, using her transmissions to locate her. Her messages must be short and she moves fast after each one.
It’s a game of cat and mouse which Colette must win … every time.
The cell door crashed open, revealing Vogel in his immaculate SS uniform and I read my end in his arrogant smile.
A guard reached in, grabbing my arm, pulling me to my feet, pushing me down the corridor towards the door to the execution yard. I had watched others take this journey and knew it awaited me. Through the door the sky was a dome of frosty blue, winter sunshine splashing extravagantly onto the concrete walls, honeying their greys. A distant honking pulled my eyes to a pair of elegant geese, sailing above the north German plain towards the Baltic.
The guard stopped and I turned round in his grasp. Vogel stood motionless behind me, adjusting the set of his black uniform jacket which he deemed fractionally incorrect. His eyes flicked to the guard, motioning him away. Then his cold eyes found mine.
I stood in a strange calmness, yet a butterfly softly beat its wings in regret, somewhere below my heart.
“There will be retribution.”
I spoke a simple truth. Even here in Ravensbrück, news of the Nazi’s continuing defeats in both the east and west trickled in but it did not raise hope: hope required energy and we had none. Surviving each hungry, painful, limping day absorbed all our effort. But we knew an end approached, somewhere in the future.
Vogel’s lips narrowed to a thin smile, one sardonic eyebrow raised. “You think such a threat will save you?” He spoke excellent English.
I waited before replying, savouring another breath. “I am not trying to save myself.” I kept my voice even. “I’m trying to save you.”
I saw a flicker in his eye.
A whisper of self-doubt, perhaps?
He stepped back and lifted his pistol from its holster, half-raising it towards me. “Enough. On your knees.”
How strange at this moment to recall the anger of Madame Joubert, my Maths teacher, when I giggled as she told me off.
“And if I don’t, what then?” I chuckled softly. “You’ll shoot me?” The same grim comedy filled this situation, even though the end of it … was my end.
His eyes narrowed as I held his gaze, taunting him. “Is it difficult to shoot a woman who is staring into your eyes?”
His lips thinned, the pressure outlining them in white. As he stepped forward, the black circle of the pistol barrel grew towards me.
Did you enjoy The Imitation Game, Foyle’s War or A Bridge Too Far? If so, you will also enjoy Robert Hart's Colette. A story of cat-and-mouse espionage set during World War II, Colette is gripping fiction wound around “real characters and historical events.”
Colette is a young woman on a mission. Evacuated from France to London as the Nazis threaten to roll through France, the eighteen year-old is determined to “do her bit” for England. When German Panzers invade France and the low countries, everyone wonders if England will be next. Diminutive but tough, Colette joins the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as an RDF (Range and Direction Finding) operator, later called radar.
She heads to the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. Colette then becomes “Veronica Cheeseworth” and takes on a “secret and dangerous mission” a la Bletchley Park (WWII buffs will immediately recognize the reference and its significance. Ditto the “Baker Street Irregulars.”)
Colette soon winds up in occupied France. She is tasked with meeting up with the Maquis, the French resistance. They are to provide valuable intelligence information on German forces so the Brits can “take the fight to the Boche.”
This may be the first of Colette’s hair-raising missions, where every move could be her last. But after completing her first mission, Colette returns to occupied France for another. Even though she fears capture and breaking under interrogation, Colette is determined to do what she can to speed the liberation of France.
The final portion of this book takes place after World War II. It is elegiac, heart-wrenching, and heroic. Indeed, this novel is saturated with tales of quiet heroism. The author explains that the story, while fictional, was written in part as a “tribute to those courageous women who went willingly into the darkness of occupied Europe. Women who were prepared to purchase fascism's defeat with their own lives.” The result is a stirring and soul-shaking read.
This book comes with a minor caveat. About half of the book describes Colette’s extensive training and her service in various capacities at various places. It’s thorough and it’s detailed. This may become tiresome for some readers. But stick with it. The plot picks up steam as Colette puts her training into practice when she’s dropped into occupied France. But when her radio needs repairs and she’s stopped by the Germans… Well. You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens next.
Overall, Colette is exceptionally well written. It has sturdy, four-dimensional characters, credible dialogue, and a plot that keeps you on your toes. The taut, tense storyline offers plenty of action and intrigue. A riveting read. I couldn’t put it down!
History buffs and lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this incisive and absorbing read. So will anyone who enjoys a good story well told. May we never forget.