I just finished a book set in 1905 and now this is 1919. Despite the horrendous war and the after effects of it, the position of women seemed roughly unchanged. They took up the challenge, took to every known occupation available, filled in the all the gaps admirably but when the war was over they were expected to go back to their routine lives of home and family.
To those like Verity who worked behind the scenes and without anyone's knowledge in extremely desperate circumstances all for the good of the country, this must have been a hard act to follow. In her husband however, she had a stalwart supporter. Right now however Verity is in a precarious position also with her husband. He was presumed dead for a long time, and his sudden resurrection was a planned one. Verity cannot forgive him easily for the heartbreak of fifteen months when she thought she was a widow.
Now her history has come back with a vengeance because there seems to be someone following up on a very clandestine operation that very few knew about. No one even knew the names of the operators and so when a spiritualist in London makes a few strange remarks to Verity, which she disbelieves immediately followed by the gruesome murder of the spiritualist Verity knows that she has to be careful and that she must try to reach out to Emilie her contact in Belgium in order to know that she is safe and well.
The journey to Brussels and trying to find Emilie is a hazardous one - but it also shows Verity and Sydney that someone is on their trail with intent to kill. But who and why is the problem and the story unravels slowly.
Despite the slow unraveling the story is far from boring. Romance, history, espionage and a lot of mystery entwine themselves in this very well presented book.
Sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Kensington Books.
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